Pelagius's Commentary on St Paul's Epistle to the Romans

Romans 1:1

Paul: Do we ask why he writes Paul', since he was called ' Saul' before? We should suppose that he did this after the manner of the saints. When they advanced in virtues, they were addressed with a different name so that even in every name they might be new, as, for example, Abraham and Sarah and Cephas (cf. Gen. 17:5; John 1:42). Servant of Jesus Christ. He begins with 'servant' to give us an example of humility, as an imitator of the one who 'emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and humbled himself, having become obedient even unto death: wherefore God also exalted him' (Phil. 2:7-9). Accordingly, as follows, he merited the office of apostle by faithful and matchless service. Called an apostle. Already in foreknowledge called to be an apostle. Set apart. As the Holy Spirit says in the Acts of the Apostles: 'Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me for the work for which I have chosen them' (Acts 13:2). For the Gospel of God. Gospel in Latin means 'good news', the good news, that is, of Christ's birth, passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.

2 Which he had promised beforehand through his prophets. He indicates that he preaches no other Christ than the Christ whose Gospel the prophets promised would issue from Jerusalem (Isa. 2:3/ Mic. 4:2). In the holy Scriptures. He declares that they are prophets of God, and that the Scriptures which prophesied about Christ beforehand are holy. Indeed, this entire passage contradicts the Manicheans, for in it he states that already beforehand the Gospel was promised both through God's prophets and in the holy Scriptures; and that with regard to the flesh Christ was created from the line of David, that is, of the virgin Mary, just as Isaiah foretold it (Isa. 7:14).

3 Concerning his son. Many are sons by grace, but Christ is a son by nature; even in his physical birth he is shown to be different from the rest because the holy virgin Mary both conceived and bore him. Who was made from the seed of David. Made by the Holy Spirit. As to the flesh. By adding "as to the flesh", he has quashed both Photinus and Arius. For if he was made as to the flesh, he assuredly was not made as to the substance of the Word.

4 Who was the predestined Son of God in power. So that he might hold first place over all things (Col. 1:18). As to the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection of the dead. Predestined as to the spirit of sanctification, so that by virtue of his incorruptibility he might rise again before everyone else and open the way of the resurrection for the children of God, about whom he himself says that they are children of God, because they are children of the resurrection (Luke 20:36). Of Jesus Christ our Lord. The form of the resurrection, not of all who rise from the dead, but of all who belong to Christ, is prefigured in Christ.

5 Through whom we received grace and apostleship. Grace in baptism; apostleship, when he was directed by the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 13:2): apostle in Greek means "sent" in Latin. For the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles. He received apostleship among all the Gentiles, so that now they might obey not the law, but faith. For his name's sake. We discharge our duty in his name, as he says: Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you, and again: Whoever has received you has received me (John 20:21; Matt. 10:40).

6 Among whom you also have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. Among you too, that is among the Romans, we have received the office of apostle.

7 To all who are in God's love in Rome. That is, to all believers, whom God loves equally, without partiality for Jew or Greek (cf. Rom. 2:11). Called saints. Saints because of God's call, not on account of holiness. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. His greeting is everywhere designed both to recall God's benefits and to seek that they remain perfect within us, because our sins have been freely pardoned and 'we have been reconciled to God through the death of his Son (Rom. 5:10). He also impresses upon them that they ought to live peaceably, since they have obtained one and the same grace. Here ends the preface.

8 First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ. God is God of all by nature, but God of few in merit and will, as in the case of the God of Abraham (Exod. 3:6). Paul here calls God "his'' in this latter sense. For you all. Not for the Jews alone. Because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. He praises them in a prudent fashion, so as to incite them to improve. Or: Because the whole world stood amazed that the Romans had believed, since they had been engrossed with an extravagant cult of idols, to the degree that they served the gods of all the nations they had conquered. But it is no faith improbable simply that he praised a faith whose zeal is now evident.

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Gospel of his Son. That is, I serve with my whole heart and with a ready zeal; for if I do this willingly, I have a reward (1 Cor. 9:17). Or: Here he has used spirit for word, as in the passage: The heavens were established by the word of the Lord, and all their strength by the spirit of his mouth (Ps. 32:6). That without ceasing I always remember you

10 in my prayers, entreating. Here he both indicates that he will say everything out of love, so that he may be heard more readily, and presents a model of unceasing prayer (cf. 1 Thess. 5:17). If by any means I may now at last by the will of God find the way propitious to come to you.

11 For I long to see you. If for any reason I come to you some time by the will of God. For I do not find the way propitious unless the will of God, which knows all things, has directed me to a place where I may enjoy some fruit. Wherefore we read in the Acts of the Apostles that although they wanted to go to one place, they were destined for another (cf. Acts 16:7). Or: As James says: If the Lord is willing and if we are living, we shall do this or that (Jas. 4:15). In order to impart some spiritual grace to you, to make you strong. Here he indicates why he praised them earlier on, because they need some spiritual grace to strengthen them.

12 That is, so that I may be comforted among you by the faith that is in turn both yours and mine. So that we may comfort one another by our common faith.

13 For I do not suppose you are unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you. For you were able to hear of it through the brothers that were coming and going. And that I have been prevented until now. 'Prevented' here means busy while he was preaching in other provinces, as he explains at the end of the letter, when he says: For this reason, too, I was often kept from visiting you (Rom. 15:22). So that I might enjoy some fruit among you as well. He calls the reward for his labor fruit. As among other Gentiles. I enjoy is understood.

14 To Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish. He calls the Greeks who boast a representative of every philosophy wise; the barbarians, foolish. I am under obligation;

15 inasmuch as it lies with me, I am ready. That is, prepared. To preach the Gospel also to you who are in Rome. Who are just as wise as the Greeks.

16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. This is subtly intended to censure the pagans, who, although they do not blush to believe that for the sake of monstrous lust their god Jove turned into irrational animals and inanimate gold, suppose that we should be ashamed to believe that for the salvation of his image our Lord was crucified in the flesh he assumed (cf. Gen. 1:26), though in the one case the disgrace is shocking, in the other a mark of fidelity and power. At the same time he touches upon those heretics who shrink from the idea that God should put on a man and give him up to death for the salvation of the human race as something unbecoming for God, not realizing that nothing is more becoming for the creator than to care for the salvation of his creatures, especially since he could not on account of this suffer loss to his own nature, it being impossible. For it is the power of God unto salvation. There is no greater power than that which conquered death and restored to humankind the life it had lost. For all who believe. Much as it may seem weakness to the unbelieving (cf. 2 Cor. 13:4). First for the Jew, and also for the Greek.

17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in it. Either: Because it was just that the rest of the believers should be saved in the same way that Abraham was, who when he believed was saved from among the Gentiles initially by faith alone. Or: Because the testament which God, who is truthful, promised in the law had to be revealed. By faith, in faith. Or: Because the Jew is justified by faith and the Gentile in faith; he wrote "by" and "in" to avoid the fault of tautology. As it is written: the just live by faith. Not by works of the law (Gal. 2:16).

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. He begins to address the case of the Gentiles, and he says that the wrath of God is revealed through the Gospel, or else through the testimony of nature: for people have learnt to expect both benefits and calamities from heaven. Upon all the impiety and unrighteousness of humankind. He said against all because there seem to be three kinds of impiety. The first and greatest is towards God, which one commits by blasphemy or idolatry. The second is in the form of injury towards or contempt for parents, as it is written in Leviticus: If someone sleeps with his father's wife, the two shall be put to death; they have committed impiety and stand condemned (Lev. 20:11-12). The third is towards someone who is not a relative, as in the example: And you have forgiven the impiety of my heart (Ps. 31:5); there are] also many other texts in addition to this one, but it would take too long to list them. Or: Every sort of impiety must be traced back to the various cults of idols, so that it is clear that impiety refers to injury towards God, but unrighteousness to all sins. Of those who hold the truth of God in unrighteousness. They hold the truth of God's name in the unrighteousness of the base stuff of which idols are made.

19 Since what is known about God. What can be known by nature about God, that he exists and that he is just. Is plain to them. To their consciences. For every creature bears witness that it is itself not God, and shows that it was made by another, with whose will it ought to comply. For if God is the highest magnitude, invisible, incomprehensible, inestimable, and the one who is over all--that is, the one who has neither superior nor equal in greatness or splendor or might, he obviously cannot correspond to any creature that is seen with the eyes and conceptualized by reason and assessed with judgment. No creature, moreover, is in every way greater than all others, because they all surpass one another, some in size, as heaven and earth; some in splendor, as the sun and the moon or the stars (cf. 1 Cor. 15:41); some in depth, as the sea. It is evident, therefore, that none of the elements is God. Furthermore, their changeability, which cannot belong to eternity, proves that they were created. Indeed, it is obvious that they did not create themselves, because if they had created themselves, they were already existing before they were created, so as to be able to create themselves--which is an utterly absurd thing to say. In fact, because they change and vary their courses and give place to one another, they show that they have been created by one Maker and that they perform not their own will but their master's, whose command they cannot disobey. For God has made it plain to them.

20 For since the creation of the world his invisible properties, even his eternal power and divinity, are clearly seen, having been understood through the things that were created; so that they are without excuse. His hidden qualities are deduced from things that are manifest. For if he made the things which are visible so splendid that some considered them gods and tried to assert that they are eternal, how much more were these people able to understand that the one who made these things is everlasting and almighty and boundless. As the Book of Wisdom says: 'When the creation is set alongside his greatness, then the creator of these things can be seen, and so on in what follows (Wisd. 13:5). In fact, his invisible properties are so plainly understood that they are said to be 'clearly seen'.

21 Because, although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God. Either by nature or by considering the creation. Nor gave him thanks. For the fact that they had been made in such a way that they could recognize God if they wanted. But they degenerated in their thinking. Imagining that they could grasp God's greatness with the mind, they degenerated from their natural instinct by worshiping creatures instead of the creator. And their foolish hearts were darkened. Because it withdrew from the light of truth.

22 For, declaring themselves to be wise. As those who had discovered how the invisible God is honored by means of a visible idol. They became fools:

23 And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness. Not understanding that there is no likeness between the mortal and the immortal, the corruptible and the eternal. of an image of a corruptible human being and of birds and animals and serpents. Not into the likeness merely of a human being, but into the likeness of an image of a human being, and -- what is more -- of animals as well. Here he addresses the worshippers of Jove, who maintain that he was transformed into the likes of these because of his most obscene lusts, and therefore dedicate to him images of the sort in which he satisfied his sexual desire.

24 Therefore God gave them over to the desires of their heart. In the Scriptures God is said 'to give over' when because of freedom of choice he does not restrain transgressors. As he says in the psalm: And I let them go according to the desires of their heart, and so forth (Ps. 81:12). To impurity. Which occurs in the filthy rites of the idols. So that they degrade their bodies with abuses. When in their rites they afflict themselves with brands and burns. Among themselves. So that like the insane they avenge their own wrongs on themselves.

25 Who exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped. They exchanged the worship of the true God for the lie of the idols, which are falsely worshiped as gods and somehow lead these fools to believe that they are what they are not. And served the creature rather than the creator. They not only loved, but also served: indeed, anyone who is overcome by a desire for some creature serves that creature: 'For one is the slave of that by which one has been conquered (2 Pet. 2:19). Who is blessed forever. If they had served him, they too could have been blessed forever: for one who does God's will abides in eternity, [even] as God abides in eternity' (1 John 2:17).

26 Therefore God gave them over to shameful passions. Because of the reasons noted above they were abandoned to their monstrous behavior. For their women changed their natural relations into relations which are against nature. Those who turned against God turned everything on its head: for those who forsook the author of nature also could not keep to the order of nature. 'The worship of abominable idols he says is the cause, the beginning, and the end of every evil ( Wisd. 14:27).

27 In the same way men, too, having forsaken natural relations with women, were inflamed with lust for one another, men committing shameful acts with men. Lust, once unbridled, knows no limit. And receiving in themselves the due penalty for their errors. So ran the order of nature, that those who had forgotten God did not understand themselves as well.

28 And since they did not think it worthwhile to know God. Not merely did they not know God, they did not even think it worthwhile to know God. For one thinks it worthwhile to know God when, keeping him always in view, one does not dare to sin. God gave them over to a reprobate disposition. They were given over to a worthless disposition because they did not think it worthwhile to know God. So that they do what is unbecoming. So that they do what is unbecoming for a human being to do.

29 Filled with every sort of wickedness and malice. He shows that wickedness and malice are the chief causes of the vices, Fornication and greed. He linked fornication with greed because both are on almost the same footing as idolatry, Villainy; full of envy, murder. How fitting it is for him to associate murder with envy, since envy is the main cause of this crime. Strife. Strife exists where something is defended not by reason but with an obstinate spirit; where resolve is wearied more than truth is sought. Deceit. Deceit is secret malice dressed up in flattering speech. Malignity. A wish or a work of malice is called malignity.

30 Murmurers. That is, grumblers. Or: Those who speak not to one's face but into one's ear. Slanderers hateful to God. Indeed, nothing is so hateful to God as idolatry, and the Scriptures connect slander with idolatry by stipulating the same penalty, that of rooting out. For he says: He who sacrifices to the gods will be rooted out (Exodus. 22:20), and elsewhere it is written: 'Do not love to slander, lest you be rooted out' ( Prov. 20:3). Insolent. Those who are quick with insults. Proud; haughty, inventors of evil. One who desires to be more than he is, is proud, as was the Devil, who in this way mined what he was. For one who seeks to lord it over others will in so doing end up beneath them. Inventors of evil' follows, therefore, because pride is always devising and inventing evils, just as the author of pride in his haughtiness invented evil, which had not existed previously, for himself. And indeed one is called haught when one is puffed up beyond one's proper limits. Disobedient to parents. True parents are those who bring children forth into light and eternal life through the seed of the word.

31 Foolish, disorderly. Those who have withdrawn from the fount of wisdom inevitably also carry on in a disorderly manner. Without affection. Affection is the fulfillment of love. Without mercy. How could they who refused to be merciful to themselves be merciful to others? He mentions all these sins, set out one by one, with regard to those who, having abandoned God, have in turn been abandoned by him. Let us beware, then, lest we too be likewise abandoned for harboring one of these evils.

32 Who, although they had known the righteousness of God, did not realize that those who do such things are worthy of death. Although they had known the righteousness of God from the fact that they themselves also find evil displeasing, they did not realize that it follows from this that such persons will be punished, if not in the present, then nevertheless in the future; for if they had realized this, they would have been especially afraid of doing such things. Not only those who do these things, but also those who agree with those who do. In case someone should say that he had not done all these things, he added 'those who agree with those who do'. But even someone who perhaps does not agree with these doings -- because people passed judgment on the sort who do these things -- nevertheless seemed to have agreed to them all by agreeing to idolatry, which is the source and cause of them all.

Romans 2:1 Therefore you -- every one who passes judgment -- are without excuse. For in whatever matter you pass judgment on another person, you condemn yourself: for you who pass judgment do the same things. Everyone passed judgment on people of this sort, but above all this concerns those who are in a position to pass judgment. Judges and princes are being brought to trial. For by means of natural judgment each person pronounces a sentence which fits the deed, and all know both that uprightness deserves reward and that wickedness meets with punishment.

2 Now we know that God's judgment is in accordance with the truth against those who do such things. The judgment by which people of this sort -- people who were able to condemn in others what they did not hesitate to commit themselves -- are judged is in accordance with the truth. For if you, a sinner, pass judgment upon a sinner like yourself, how much more will God, who is just, judge you to be unjust. Otherwise it would perhaps appear that to him evil is pleasing and good displeasing. In fact, we read that he, showing no favoritism, spared neither his friends nor his angels when they sinned!

But human judgment is compromised in many ways: the integrity of judges is often violated by love, hatred, fear, and greed, and now and then mercy is inclined against the rule of justice.

3 But do you -someone who passes judgment on those who do these things and yet do the same things -- imagine that you will escape God's judgment?

4 Or do you scorn the riches of his goodness and patience and forbearance, not realizing that God's goodness leads you to repentance? Or do you delude yourself about your impunity because God does not punish immediately, and, seeing time wear on and goodness abound, imagine that there is no longer a judgment? Well then, listen to the word of Scripture: 'The Lord is not tardy with his promises, but waits patiently on your account, not wanting anyone to perish, but desiring everyone to turn in repentance' (2 Peter 3:9). The Lord is good in so far as he waits, just in so far as he punishes. Wherefore the prophet warns: Do not be slow to turn to the Lord, nor put it off from one day to the next: for his wrath comes unexpectedly, and at the time of vengeance he will destroy you (Ecclus. 5:7). And again: 'You should not say: "I sinned, and did any misfortune befall me?" For the Most High is long-suffering in taking vengeance (Ecclus. 5:4). People lead themselves far astray on account of God's patience, especially because he does not wish to punish sinners at once: for because he delays, they suppose either that he does not care in the least about human affairs or that he pardons faults. Many even rail at him, Why doesn't he punish right away? because they do not realize that, if he had done so, almost no one would have survived, and the righteous would never have come from the unrighteous. Furthermore, from a human point of view God seems to wait a long time for sinners, since we consider a hundred years an eternity because our life-span is so short. But God, with whom a thousand years are as one day, does not equate a hundred years with the space of an hour (Ps. 89:4). Therefore, it is not enough for God, since even people usually expect amendment in sinners only after a long time.

5 But because of your hardness and your unrepentant heart. But you, unaware that you are sick, use the very remedy to sustain greater wounds; in the words of the blessed Job, you 'waste the opportunity for repentance in pride (Job 24:23). Spurned kindness leads, consequently, to heavier judgment, so that one who refused to be affected by mercy is afflicted with punishment, You are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revelation of God's righteous judgment,

6 who will render to each one according to his deeds. You yourself are laying up wrath upon wrath for yourself on the day of judgment, which will be revealed at a time that is fixed and certain in God's mind.

7 To those who with patience in good work The reward for good work is awaited with patience because it is not given in this life: For we walk by faith, and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Or: If a work endures right to the end, it will then be perfect (cf. 1 Cor. 3:14), because one who perseveres right to the end will be saved ( Matt. 24:13). Glory and honor and incorruption. The glory with which 'the saints shall shine as the sun (Matt. 13:43). The honor of the children of God: nothing is greater than this: on account of it they will judge even the angels (cf. 1 Cor. 6:3). The 'incorruption' of life without end. Seek eternal life. One who with works of patience seeks eternal life shall attain all these things, and 'one who has this hope in God, makes himself holy, just as God is holy (1 John 3:3).

8 But to those who live by strife. Those who often are overcome by enmity and fall into strife should take heed. They should be fearful of persisting in so injurious a habit, lest all the punishments mentioned below be visited upon them. Now it has already been pointed out that one is contentious especially when one tries to defend something against one's conscience. Who do not accept the truth, but believe what is evil. They do not believe the truth of the Gospel, and approve of evil, so that, having abandoned the creator, they zealously serve the creature (cf. Rom. 1:25). Wrath and displeasure. These are punishments that judgment brings.

9 Trouble and distress. Of conscience and of fruitless repentance (cf. Matt. 3:8; Luke 3:8), as it is written: 'Then they will speak one to another, repenting and groaning in anguish of spirit (Wisdom. 5:3). For the soul of every person who does evil, first of the Jew, and also of the Greek. The apostle threatens the soul with punishment because of heretics who say that only the flesh does wrong and deny that the soul can sin. Or: Soul refers to the whole person, as in Genesis it is said that Jacob entered Egypt with seventy five souls (Gen. 46:27; cf. Acts 7:14).

10 But glory and honor and peace for every one who does good. Glory as opposed to wrath, honor as opposed to displeasure; and what he called incorruption above he calls peace here (cf. Rom. 2:7-8). First for the Jew, and also for the Greek. Here he has used the term person to refer to what he described above as souls Now, he writes first in the sense of indeed, for God does not show favoritism. Or: As concerns faith, first in time, not in honor.

11 For God does not show favoritism. Therefore the Gentiles should not be smug about their false ignorance, nor the Jews about their privilege in the law and in circumcision.

12 For whoever sinned without the law will perish without the law, and whoever sinned under the law will be judged by the law. Without the written law, under the law of nature, He meant the same thing to be understood here by will perish and will be judged', for on the one hand one who perishes, perishes by God's judgment, and on the other hand one who is judged a sinner perishes, as it is written: For sinners will perish (Ps. 36:20). He places Jews and Gentiles on a similar footing when he says that doers, rather than hearers, of the law are righteous (cf. Rom. 2:13); and, a little further on, states that the Gentiles will be judged on the day of the Lord (cf. Rom. 2:16). For does anyone doubt that those who have been placed under the law will perish just as those who lived without the law, unless they have believed in Christ?

13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's eyes, but the doers of the law will be justified. He explains why the Jews are not better than the Gentiles. We too should fear, therefore, lest we, hearing the law but not doing it, perish along with the Gentiles, as he himself says elsewhere: Lest we be damned along with this world (1 Cor. 11:32).

14 For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law. In case someone should perhaps say, They do not have the law; by what standard could they be judged? Do by nature what pertains to the law. Either: He means those who were by nature righteous in the period before the law. Or: Those who even now do some good. They are a law unto themselves, even though they do not have the written law. He demonstrates that they do not lack a law, so as to leave the Gentiles no excuse and to divest the Jews of the glory owing to the possession of the law.

15 They show that the work of the law has been written upon their hearts, inasmuch as their conscience bears witness to them. Nature produces a law in their heart through the testimony of the conscience. Or: The conscience testifies that it has a law, because, even if the one who sins fears no one else, the conscience is apprehensive when one sins and rejoices when sin is overcome. And their thoughts in turn accuse or even defend them

16 on the day when God will judge the secrets of humankind. He asserts that there is a mental debate when we decide by lengthy deliberation what we ought to do and what we ought not to do, and that we should be judged according to this on the day of the Lord, because it proves that we were not ignorant of good or evil. Or: On the day of judgment our conscience and our thoughts shall lie before our eyes like lessons of history to be learnt; they will either accuse us or in fact excuse us, as it is written: I shall accuse you and set these things before your face (Ps. 49:21). According to my Gospel through Jesus Christ. According to what I preach for Jesus' sake. Or: God will judge through Jesus Christ.

17 Now if you call yourself a Jew. At this point he turns to the Jews. He teaches that one ought to be a Jew in deed, not only in name, and that one will be deemed a real Jew if what is hidden is good. And repose in the law. You are confident and secure. And glory in God

18 and know his will. You boast that you alone know God and understand his will. And approve what is superior because you have been taught by the law. You choose the greater and distinguish among the lesser: for what proves beneficial by nature is made more beneficial by the law.

19 And are convinced that you are a guide for the blind. For whom the light of knowledge has been darkened. A light for those who are in darkness. The darkness of ignorance.

20 An instructor of the foolish. Who do not have the wisdom of God. A teacher of infants. Of the small, in age or in understanding. Having the standard of knowledge and truth in the law. If you would always keep it in view, you could not err.

21 You then, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? This is similar to what he said to the Gentiles: 'For you who pass judgment on another condemn yourself (Rom. 2:1). For if you, O Jew, repose in the law, why do you break the law? If you glory in God, why do you dishonor him? If you know his will, why do you not obey it? If you approve of what is of greater benefit, why do you pursue what is harmful? Why do you, a guide for the blind, not see the right way? For if you saw it, you would surely walk in it. If you are a light for others, why do you not cast off the works of darkness (cf. Rom. 13:12)? Instructor of the foolish, why have you abandoned the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (cf. Ps. 110:10)? Teacher of infants, why are you a child in understanding? If you have the standard of knowledge and truth in the law, why do you neither follow it yourself nor, with your wicked example, suffer others to follow it? Why does your life not match your teaching and why does your conduct make a ruin of your faith? As a result it shall come to pass that because you did not keep the law, the law not only does you no good, but even holds you guilty of the greater crime of treating it with contempt. You who preach that one should not steal, steal. Some say: 'You steal from people by hiding Christ from them.'

22 You who say that one should not commit adultery commit adultery. There is not just one kind of adultery: for you commit adultery if you yield to anyone other than God all that the soul owes in its entirety to God. You who abhor idols commit sacrilege. Sacrilege is something that is committed strictly against God, as a violation of the sacred.

23 You who glory in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law. He has explained what he meant by 'sacrilege'.

24 'For God's name is blasphemed by you among the Gentiles', as it is written. He reversed the order and cited the passage before he said It is written. For the speaker's words trailed off in such a way that he found what he was saying in his own words written to the same effect in the prophets. And indeed, woe to them whose unrighteous acts shall cause the Lord's name to be blasphemed. As it is written: While they are called the people of the Lord, they have defiled my name among the Gentiles, among whom they sojourned as captives because of their sins (Ezek. 36: 20).

25 Circumcision is indeed of value, if you keep the law. But if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. In what way, then, is it worthless, if it is of value (1 Cor. 7: 19)? Now, it is of value on its own day. It is of value as a sip, if righteousness, of which it is a 'seal', accompanies it (Rom. 4: 11); without righteousness the rest will be superfluous. Or: It is of value because it enabled the Jew to live and to escape destruction in infancy, before he came to an age of understanding. Or: Because he set it in the law, where one discovers, upon close examination, that when the circumcision of the flesh ends the true circumcision of the heart will come. One is then a transgressor of the law when one does not follow what is foretold therein.

26 If, therefore, the uncircumcision keeps the righteousness of the law, will not their uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? The visible needs the invisible, but the invisible does not need the visible, because the visible is an image of the invisible, and the invisible is the reality of the visible. The circumcision of the flesh, therefore, needs the circumcision of the heart, but the circumcision of the heart does not need the circumcision of the flesh, because the reality does not need the image, but the image needs the reality. If circumcision has no value by itself, one rightly wonders why it was instituted. First, in order to distinguish the people of God in the midst of the Gentiles; accordingly, when they were alone in the desert, they were not circumcised. Or: So that their bodies might be identified in war. Now the reason they were marked in that particular part of the body is, first of all, so that another part which was open to public view might not be disabled or defaced; secondly, on account of the promise of grace, which would render this part acceptable through chastity. Or: So that it might be signified that Christ would be born from its seed. He was destined to introduce spiritual circumcision, but until he was born physical circumcision would continue. Thus Joshua, son of Nun, who was a type of Christ, is commanded to circumcise the people a second time (cf. Josh. 5: 2).

27 Indeed that which is by nature uncircumcision, but fulfills the law, will judge you, who by the letter of the law and circumcision are a transgressor of the law. Either: As long as you pursue literal circumcision, you spurn spiritual circumcision. Or: For not following what the law said, namely, that by believing in Christ you might receive true circumcision.

28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something outward in the flesh,

29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly. He is a real Jew: for everything that previously was performed with regard to the outer person contained a figure of the inner person. And circumcision is a matter of the heart, in spirit, not according to the letter; He has not been circumcised in the flesh. His praise is not front humankind, but from God. About this it is written in the law: 'In the last days God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed so that you love the Lord your God' (Deut. 30:6); and again: 'Circumcise yourselves for your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart (Jeremiah. 4:4), not according to the letter of the law, but according to the new testament, which investigates the inner secrets that God alone sees.

Romans 3:1 What more is there, therefore, for the Jew, or what is the value of circumcision?

2 Much in every way. The apostle has explained that the law is useless once it has been treated with contempt, and that the privilege of physical circumcision is worthless unless it is sustained with works. Now, as though he asks what advantage a Jew has, he receives a reply in the person of a Jew: Much in every way. For if the expressions Much in every way and Everyone is a liar are Paul's (Rom. 3: 4), in what sense does he later on argue to the contrary by saying: But if our wickedness sets off God's righteousness, what shall we say? That God is wicked? Certainly not! and so on (Rom. 3: 5)? In what sense does he finally assert that the Jews have no advantage, if here he reminds us that they have much (cf. Rom. 3: 9)? First of all, because the words of god were entrusted to them. You mean to say this before all else, that the words of God were entrusted to them, while nothing was entrusted to the Gentiles.

3 And what if some of them did not believe? Would their unbelief cancel God's faithfulness? Certainly not! The faithfulness of the promises to Abraham, to whom it was said that in your seed will all nations be blessed' ( Gen.22: 18).

4 God is true. They talk as if God were true just because one is a liar. Though everyone is a liar. Here he uses all for the greatest part, as in All seek their own, and All have abandoned me, Luke alone is with me (Phil. 2: 21; 2 Tim. 4: 16; 2 Tim. 4: 11). As it is written: So that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you pass judgment. The opposing party has cited this testimony as if David had said, For this reason have I sinned, so that you might appear just in judging me. But the real meaning is this; that God had promised to punish sinners without showing favoritism, and that some judged his patience to be a lie. God prevails when he judges, when he punishes the deeds of those on whom no one had imagined vengeance would be taken. Alternatively: You have shown yourself to be concerned about humankind--you who revealed my secret sins through the prophets --and you have overthrown those who falsely suggest that you are uninterested in human affairs. The objection extended this far: now the apostle begins to answer.

5 But if our wickedness sets off God's righteousness, what shall we say? That God is unjust? It is unjust if he punishes those who have sinned merely so that He might appear more righteous. Who brings wrath. Just as in the flood and against Sodom, so also in the judgment. (I am speaking in human terms.)

6 Not at all! As you, who think along these lines. Otherwise, how will God judge this world? By what righteousness will he condemn unrighteousness, if according to you he is more righteous by reason of human wickedness?

7 For if by my falsehood God's truthfulness has abounded to his glory. That is: has increased. Why am I still condemned as a sinner? That is: why am I condemned besides--I, just someone who lies, who ought to be praised, if God's truthfulness is corroborated by my falsehood?

8 And--as we are maligned, and as some claim we say-why don't we. Why does he condemn me as a sinner, and why is it not true, as some claim we say, that the greater evil we have done, the greater good we receive? Why don't we do evil, so that good may come? Perhaps they believed this because they did not understand what he said: Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more (Rom. 5: 20). Their condemnation is just. What could be more just than to experience the very punishment they falsely declared we denied--we who proclaim nothing but the righteous judgment of God?

9 What advantage, then, do we possess? For we have pleaded that all, Jews and Greeks, are under sin. I find no basis for the idea that we, who are of the Jews, are greater. For reason has discovered that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin--something we deduce not only by reason, but also corroborate with testimony from the Jews.

10 As it is written: For no one is righteous. The psalm from which this citation has been taken speaks of the fool (cf. Ps. 13: 1). Paul shows that this testimony was fulfilled especially at the coming of Christ, for at the time he appeared no one, I think, was found righteous.

11 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. Because one does not understand, one does not seek. Or: One does not understand because one does not seek. Now one seeks God when one enquires after his will. For everyone who sins has not seen him, nor known him, because one who sins has not known the will of his master (1 John 3: 6). For one whose will is unknown is even in colloquial speech said to be unknown.

12 All have fallen away. One who does not look for support must needs fall away. And together become useless. Useless for the work for which they had been begotten. There is no one who does good, not even one. If there is no one who does good, in what sense does he later on accuse those who devour his people and ruin the plan of the needy? For they were not God's people, if they did not do good--especially when in the same place they are called a righteous generation (cf. Ps. 14:5). But this has to do more with the exposition of the psalm than with the concern of the apostle.

13 Their throat is an open grave. Contaminating and killing those who listen with the stench of their teaching and flattery. For this reason is a grave carefully sealed, so that it may not continue to breed disease among the living by its vapor. They worked craftily with their tongues. Expressing one thing with the mouth, but contemplating another in the heart. The venom of asps. The venom of these snakes is said to be the most harmful. Under their lips. That is: in the heart.

14 Whose mouth is full of malicious talk. There is not just one kind of malicious talk: for whatever is said out of malice is without doubt said maliciously. And bitterness. Bitterness is the opposite of the sweetness of God's words.

15 Their feet are swift to shed blood. Either: He means, simply, murderers. Or: He means those who kill souls by flattery, whence in the Acts of the Apostles Saint Paul says: 'I am innocent of the blood of all: for I did not shrink from preaching to you the whole will of God' ( Acts 20: 26-7).

16 Grief and misery are in their ways. Souls are worn out and made miserable by their teaching or by the example of their behavior.

17 And the way of peace they have not known. The teaching by which God was made peaceful towards humankind; because everything that is similar is at peace, and everything that is contrary is at odds.

18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. He has ended with the fear of God, because if they had always kept the fear of God before their eyes, they assuredly would not have transgressed so seriously: for a servant dares not sin while the master is present.

19 But we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law. In case they might claim that these verses of the psalm were spoken about the Gentiles, he indicates that what has been said in the law has been said to those who are under the law. Of course, it is a question in what sense the Jews claimed there is no God (cf. Ps. 14: 1). They undoubtedly did not state this in word, but in deed: for they avow that they know God, but they deny it with their deeds (Titus 1: 6). Here he does not address the Gentiles, because he had already made such statements about them in regard to their own case. So that every mouth may be stopped up. Not only of the Gentiles, but also of the Jews, since they have no reason to boast. And the whole world be made subject to God. In the confession of sin.

20 Because all flesh will not be justified in his sight by works of the law. Will be all but justified. Or: By works of the law he means circumcision, the Sabbath, and the other ceremonies, which had to do not so much with righteousness as with carnal pleasure. For through the law comes recognition of sin. Neither forgiveness, nor sin, but recognition. For through the law one realizes what is a sin, either because the natural law had been forgotten, or because prior to the written law the lesser sins--that is, the sins which were not harmful to others, such as concupiscence, drunkenness, and others of this sort--were not recognized to be sins.

21 But now the righteousness of God has been made plain without the law. The righteousness which has been given to us freely by God, not acquired by our effort, has been made plain without the written law, and, having lain hidden in the law, has been revealed with greater clarity through the examples of Christ, which are more obvious. Attested by the law and the prophets. Either: The law and the prophets foretold that this righteousness would come in the last times. Or: The law and the prophets bore witness to the recognition of sin.

22 Namely, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ upon all who believe. The faith by which one believes in Christ. For there is no distinction. Between Jew and Gentile.

23 For all have sinned and are in need of the glory of God. Because they do not have their own.

24 Having been freely justified by his grace. Without the works of the law, through baptism, whereby he has freely forgiven the sins of all, though they are undeserving. Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. By which he has redeemed us with his blood from death. Through sin we had been sold to death--as Isaiah says: You were sold by your sins but Christ, who did not sin, conquered death (Isaiah. 50: 1). For we were all condemned to death, to which he handed himself over, though it was not his due, so that he might redeem us with his blood. This is why the prophet prophesied: You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed (Isaiah. 52: 3). That is, because you received nothing for yourselves, and have to be redeemed with Christ's blood. At the same time it should be noted that he did not buy us, but bought us back, because previously we were his by nature, although we were alienated from him by our transgressions. If we stop sinning, then indeed will our redemption be profitable.

25 Whom God has presented. He has set him in public before the eyes of all, so that whoever wishes to be redeemed may draw near. As a propitiator for faith in his blood to manifest his righteousness. So that he may be propitious towards those who believe that they need to be freed by his blood. On Count of the plan for the prior transgressions [which had already been committed long ago. For these Christ died, so that he might stay God's plan, by which he had determined at long last to punish sinners .

26 By the forbearance of God. He wants to show that God had in fact waited for transgressors finally to reform themselves, but that they had abused God's patience and gone on to greater sins. Whence Job, that most righteous man of his day, says of the sinner: God gave him room for repentance, and he abuses it in pride (Job 24: 23). To manifest his righteousness at this time. So that he might reveal the righteousness which is by faith. So that he may be just and may justify the one who by faith belongs to Jesus Christ. Who alone has been found righteous, and also the one whom he has justified, not by works, but by faith.

27 Where then is your boasting? It is excluded. He addresses the Jew: Where is the ground on which you were boasting that you had merited righteousness by works? Through which law? The law of deeds? Not. 'It is understood. But through the law of faith. He means the law which is the appointed end of faith, namely, the New Testament.

28 For we deem that a person is justified through faith without the works of the law. We are sure' or we judge. Some misuse this verse to do away with works of righteousness, asserting that faith by itself can suffice for one who has been baptized, although the same apostle says elsewhere: And if I have complete faith, so that I move mountains, but do not have love, it profits me nothing 1 Cor. 13: 2); and in another place declares that in this love is contained the fullness of the law, when he says: 'The fullness of the law is love (Rom. 13: 10). Now if these verses seem to contradict the sense of the other verses, what works should one suppose the apostle meant when he said that a person is justified through faith without the works [of the law]? Clearly, the works of circumcision or the Sabbath and others of this sort, and not without the works of righteousness, about which the blessed James says: 'Faith without works is dead (Jas. 2: 26). But in the verse we are treating he is speaking about that person who in coming to Christ is saved, when he first believes, by faith alone. But by adding 'the works of the law he indicates that there is also a work of grace which those who have been baptized ought to perform.

29 Is God only the God of the Jews? Not of the Gentiles as well? Did God create the Jews alone, so that he is concerned about them alone? For even if the Gentiles sinned, so did you; and even if you repent, so do they; and if to you Christ came as promised by the law, so likewise to them. For often the prophets spoke of their calling too. Yes, of the Gentiles as well. His economy of words is admirable. He said Yes so that he might further show the Gentiles that the first saints had not been circumcised, and that Abraham was righteous before circumcision. He reiterated as well so that he might not seem to exclude the Jews.

30 Because there is in fact one God who justifies. Both of you have believed in one and the same God and in one and the same Christ. The circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. By faith and 'through faith' undoubtedly mean the same thing, but it is the custom of the Scriptures in these instances to prefer to change a word rather than repeat it, as is written in Daniel: For the sake of Abraham, your servant, and Isaac, beloved by you, and Israel, your holy one (Dan. 3: 35).

31 Do we, then, tear down the law through faith? By no means! Rather, we uphold the law. Do we, then, deem superfluous the law which enjoined us to be circumcised? Not at all! On the contrary, we enable it to stand firm when we show that what it said is true, namely that law would follow after law, testament after testament, circumcision after circumcision (Jeremiah. 4: 4, 31: 31-4). what he is ordered is still called unprofitable (cf Luke 17:10). Alternatively: He is not given righteousness freely, but is paid wages for prior works.

35 But to one who does not work, but who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. When an ungodly person converts, God justifies him by faith alone, not for the good works justified he did not have. Otherwise he should have been punished for works of ungodliness. At the same time one should note that he did not declare the sinner justified by faith, but rather the ungodly, that is, one who has just come to believe. According to the plan of God's grace. By which he planned to forgive sins freely by faith alone.

36 As also David describes the blessedness of the person. It is great blessedness to obtain the grace of the Lord without the labor of the law and of penance, as if one were to receive gratuitously some public honor. To whom God credits righteousness without works. One's initial faith is credited as righteousness to the end that one may be absolved of the past, justified for the present, and readied for future works of faith.

37 Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sins covered.

38 Blessed is the one against whom the Lord has not reckoned sin. What is forgiven is not kept in mind, and what is covered does not come to light, and for that reason it is not at all counted against one. Some say that sin is forgiven in baptism, covered by penitential works, and not counted against one through martyrdom. But others say that when sins have been forgiven in baptism, love for God is increased, which covers a multitude of sins and finally keeps them from being counted against one as long as daily good works surpass past misdeeds (cf 1 Pet. 4:8).

39 Is this blessedness for the circumcision, or also for the uncircumcision? He means to assign this blessedness to the three periods

Romans 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham discovered? He called them back to the origin of circumcision, so that what it stood for in the beginning might be understood in its entirety. Our father according to the flesh? Father according to the circumcision of the flesh; for faith dwells in the mind.

2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has glory, but not before God. If he was justified because he circumcised himself, then God gave him nothing, but he had glory on account of himself. Alternatively: If he carried out the ordinances, he had glory in his own eyes, but not in God's.

3 For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed in God. Abraham's faith was in fact so great that his previous sins were forgiven him and righteousness was reckoned as credit for every one of them by faith alone, and thereafter he burnt with such love that he furnished himself works over and above them all. And it was credited to him as righteousness. And therefore he has glory in God's sight, in accordance with what the law deemed satisfactory.

4 Now to one who works wages are not credited as a gift. He offers an example. But as an obligation. For it is the lot of one who is under obligation to do what he is told, and unless he complies he is condemned. But if he does what he is told he has no glory, because a servant who does nothing more than of nature, circumcision, and Christianity. For we say that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. All, in fact, confess and agree on this point; therefore, what reason discovers about Abraham, this will we heed with regard to the rest.

10 How, then, was it credited? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Let us see whether circumcision is born of righteousness, or righteousness of circumcision. Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. Because he was righteous before he was circumcised.

11 And he received the sign of circumcision. In case they say, 'Therefore he was circumcised unnecessarily, he says it is the sign of righteousness, not the beginning or the increase of righteousness. The seal of the righteousness of faith, which is in uncircumcision. He received the seal of the righteousness which the faith he had when he was uncircumcised deserved. For it was so perfect that it deserved a seal: for something that is full is always sealed. Or: So that he might point out how righteous and faithful he was, for he did not hesitate to bring himself grief at God's command, since he did not suppose it irrelevant that he was ordered by the Lord of knowledge (cf. 1 Sam. 2:3), just as he did not believe that a parricide enjoined by the fount of fidelity would be an act of infidelity. So that he is the father of all believers through uncircumcision, in order that righteousness might be credited to them as well,

12 and also the father of circumcision, not only among those who are from the circumcision, but also among those who follow the footsteps of faith which our father Abraham had when uncircumcised. So that all who believe from among the Gentiles are children of Abraham, when faith alone is credited to them as righteousness and they too become circumcised, but in the heart. Or: Because he was righteous in uncircumcision, in order to be the father of uncircumcised believer], and remained righteous once circumcised, in order to become the father of the righteous who are circumcised.

13 For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed. Here he calls circumcision itself the law, because every injunction can be regarded as law. That he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. Either: That in his seed, namely Christ, all the nations that were given him as an inheritance by the Father might be blessed (cf. Gal. 3:16; Gen. 12:3; PS. 2:8). Or: That the nations 'might recline at table with him in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8: 11).

14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is voided, the promise is annulled. If, as you desire, only those who have been circumcised are heirs, God has not fulfilled the promise to Abraham, that he was the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4), and, if this is so, it will now seem that they believed God without good reason.

15 For the law produces wrath. Because it was ordained for the unrighteous (1 Tim. 1:9), and weighed down, rather than set free, those who desired to sin in that they were knowingly heaping up sins: for if you were blind, he says, you would not have sin (John 9:41). For where there is no law, there is also no transgression.

16 Therefore, it is by faith, so that by grace the promise to all his seed is sure, not only to one who is of the law, but also to one who is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Because, then, faith cannot be voided, nor the promise annulled, heir-ship is not by the law, but by faith. For the law does not forgive sins, but condemns them, and therefore cannot make all nations children of Abraham, since all must finally be punished, inasmuch as all are found under sin. But faith makes all believers children of Abraham, their sins having been forgiven by grace. For where there is no law, there is also no transgression. Either: There is nothing to be transgressed, where there is no law. Or: There is nothing to be punished, where the law is not necessary.

17 As it is written: 'Because I have established you a father of many nations'. Not of the one nation of Israel. Before God whom he believed. Before God, who is the father of all believers. Who gives life to the dead. Here he means dead for the purpose of bearing children', so as to fit in with the present discussion. And calls things that are not as things that are. Although in the beginning he also called things that did not exist (cf. Gen. 1:1), and immediately they began to exist, nevertheless here he means that they were past the time of bearing children.

18 Who, against hope, believed in hope. It was against the hope of nature for a man a hundred years old to believe that from a wife now as feeble as he was, who even in her youth had been barren, his seed would become as the stars of the sky (cf. Gen. 15: 5). So that he became the father of many nations, as it was said. So shall your seed be. Now by himself he had not been able to become the father of even one son; one wonders, therefore, how Abraham, with a body as good as dead, produced sons by Keturah, when before he could not produce one by Sarah (cf. Gen.25:1-2). He did not beget by Sarah because she was old and barren: but with Keturah, as with a young woman, he was able easily to beget in the course of nature that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall your descendants be.

19 And he was not weak in faith. He did not take into account that his body was dead, since it was almost a hundred years old and that Sarah's womb was dead. Faith takes no aspect of nature into account, because it knows that the one who spoke is almighty.

20 And he did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God, but was strengthened in faith. He doubted neither the impossibility of old age nor the enormity of the promise. Giving glory to God,

21 knowing full well that whatever he has promised he is also able to do. Giving thanks as for a thing received.

22 Therefore it was credited to him as righteousness. Because he believed so completely and so steadfastly.

23 Yet not only for him was it written that it was credited to him,

24 but also for us, to whom it will be credited. Not so that we only know of his faith, but also so that we imitate his example as the example of a father, just as we imitate all the examples of the saints, by which they have pleased the Lord; they were, in fact, tempted so that they might know themselves and so that we might follow their steps. Who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. If we believe as completely that he has raised Christ from the dead as Abraham believed that his body, which was as good as dead, could be made alive in order to produce offspring.

25 Who was handed over for our transgressions and raised for our justification. Who wiped out our sins by his death and, of necessity rising again in the same state in which he had died, appeared in order to confirm the righteousness of believers.

Romans 5:1

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has discussed the point that none of them is justified by works, but all by faith, and he proves this with the example of Abraham, of whom the Jews think they alone are children. He has also explained why neither race nor circumcision but faith makes people children of Abraham, who was justified initially by faith alone. Now, having finished this argument, he urges them to be at peace, because none is saved by his own merit, but all are saved in the same way by God's grace. Let us have peace with God. Either, let us both submit to God; or, let us have the peace of God, not merely of the world.

2 Through whom we also have access through faith to that grace. Through whom we have drawn near, because we were far away (cf Eph. 2:13). In which we stand. Who were previously prostrate. And glory in the hope of glory for the children of God. We glory in the fact that we hope to possess the glory of God's children. What we hope for is so great that no one would venture it on his own, lest it be regarded not as hope but as blasphemy, and as something that many consider incredible on account of its greatness.

3 What is more, we also glory in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces patience,

4 and patience, endurance, and endurance hope. We glory not only in the hope of glory, but also in sufferings which are most salutary, being mindful of the greatness of the reward, as James says: Count it all joy, brothers, and so on (Jas. 1:2). This is why we should also desire to suffer something for the Lord's name (cf Acts 5:41), so that after the sufferings come to an end we may obtain an endless reward for them. For when we consider the reward, we cannot possibly regard the effort to be worthy of the reward. For indeed we know that people willingly consent to fight with beasts for the sake of gold, though they will not be able to keep it for ever. How much the more ought we according to the example [of the apostles to rejoice in sufferings (Cf. 2 Cor. 7:4), which indeed, although they are temporal, obtain eternal salvation and set one free from everlasting torment. For many, in fact, undergo terrific pains in the hope of a little health and out of concern for the body, but still cannot attain complete health. And, even if their health were to make good progress, when death intervenes a little later it will be considerable glory to rise from the lowest to the highest and to arrive at the greatest from nothing. We are called from the mire to heaven and from slavery to kingship--if, that is, we disdain every glory and delight of the world and glory only in that which has been promised us. And even if you did this, it is as if someone scorned a lead penny and acquired a crown jewel. Yet even this is not a very fitting analogy, because here, although there is a difference in value, corruption still awaits both: but there the corruptible is changed into the incorruptible and the perishable into the eternal (cf 1 Cor. 15:53).

5 And hope does not dismay. The hope of things to come casts out all confusion. This is why one who is dismayed by Christ's injunctions is shown to lack hope. Because the love of God is poured out into our hearts. Greatness of benefits arouses in one greatness of love, which, being perfect, does not know what it is to be dismayed and afraid (cf. 1 John 4:18). Through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. From this we learn how [God loves us, because he has not only forgiven us our sins through the death of his Son, but has also given us the Holy Spirit, who already shows us the glory of things to come.

6 For why did Christ, while we were still weak. Why did he without any obligation die for us, except to manifest his love at a time when we were still weighed down with the lassitude of sins and vices? At that time. At that time, when righteousness had already almost disappeared, we were weak. Or: Because Christ died in the last time. Or: He was dead for the time of three days, as had been foretold (cf. Matt. 26:61; Mark 8:31; 1 Cor. 15:4). Die for the ungodly? He wants to point out that Christ died for the ungodly, in order to commend the grace of Christ by a consideration of his benefits, and to show how much we, who have been undeservedly loved, ought to love him, and so that we might see whether anything should be valued more highly than one so generous and holy, since he neither valued his life above us ungodly people nor withheld the death that was indispensable for us.

7 For one scarcely dies for a righteous person. It is hard to die for a righteous person, because a righteous person is not destined to die: I for one who is to die another may perhaps die. Now for a good person perhaps one may dare to die. A good person is one who is also righteous: for elsewhere he says a righteous and holy and good commandment' (Rom. 7:12). But perhaps this is the reason [one] so easily dares to die, namely, so that no harm may come to him.

8 But God demonstrates his love for us. He becomes the object of love, when he conveys how much he loves us. For when one does something while under no obligation, then especially one demonstrates love. And what would be less of an obligation than that a master who is without sin should die for his faithless servants, and that the creator of the universe should be hanged on behalf of his own creatures? Because, while we were still sinners. One should note that the apostle, by saying that many who now believe in Christ were sinners, means that now they are not sinners, so that they may recall how they ought to behave. Christ died for us

9 How much more, therefore, shall we, Who have now been justified. If he loved sinners so much, how much more will he now preserve the righteous! In his blood, be saved from wrath through him. Not by the blood of animals, as in the law (cf Heb. 9:11-14). Let us take care, then, that we do not render him unclean by sinning, as the apostle himself tells the Hebrews (cf. Heb. 10:29).

10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Sinners are enemies because they show contempt, as the apostle says: Do you know that friendship with this world is not friendly to God? Whoever, then, wishes to become a friend of this age, becomes an enemy of God (Jas. 4:4). We were enemies, then, in our actions, not by nature: we have been reunited in peace, because by nature we had been united in peace. How much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved in his life. If we have been saved by Christ's death, how much more shall we glory in his life, if we imitate it!"

11 What is more, we also glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only shall we be granted eternal life, but we are promised a certain likeness through Christ to divine glory as well. As the apostle John says: It has not yet become manifest what we shall be; we know that when he appears, we shall be like him (1 John 3:2). Through whom we have now received reconciliation. Thus he means to show that Christ suffered so that we who had forsaken God by following Adam might be reconciled to God through Christ.

12 Therefore, just as through one person sin came into the world, and through sin death. By example or by pattern. Just as through Adam sin came at a time when it did not yet exist, so in the same way through Christ righteousness was recovered at a time when it survived in almost no one. And just as through the former's sin death came in, so also through the latter's righteousness life was regained. And so death passed on to all people, in that all sinned. As long as they sin the same way, they likewise die. For death did not pass on to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, concerning whom the Lord says: Truly they are all living (Luke 20:38). But here he says all are dead because in a multitude of sinners no exception is made for a few righteous. So also, elsewhere: There is not one who does good, not even one (Ps. 13:1; cf. Rom. 3:12), and every one a liar (Rom. 3:4). Or: Death passed on to all who lived in a human and not a heavenly fashion.

13 For before the law sin was in the world. The law came as a punisher of sin. Before its coming sinners enjoyed the length of at least this present life with less restraint. There was indeed sin before the law, but it was not reckoned to be sin because natural knowledge had already been almost wiped out. But sin is not counted against one when the law does not exist. How did death reign, if sin was not counted against one? Unless you understand: it was not counted against one for the present time.

14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the manner of Adam's transgression. Either: As long as there was no one who distinguished beforehand between the righteous and the unrighteous, death imagined that it was lord over all. Or: Death reigned not only over those who, like Adam, transgressed a commandment such as the sons of Noah, who were ordered not to eat the life in the blood (cf. Gen. 9:4), and the sons of Abraham, for whom circumcision was enjoined (cf. Gen. 17:10) but also over those who, lacking the commandment, showed contempt for the law of nature. Who is a type of the one to come. Either: He was a type of Christ because, just as Adam was made by God without sexual intercourse, so Christ issued from a virgin by the work of the Holy Spirit. Or, as] some say: An antithetical type: that is, as Adam is the source of sin, so too Christ is the source of righteousness.

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. In case one grants equal value to the type. For if many died by the trespass of the one, how much more has God's grace and the gift in the grace of the one person Jesus Christ overflowed to more. Righteousness had more power in bringing to life than sin in putting to death, because Adam killed only himself and his own descendants, but Christ freed both those who at that time were in the body and the following generations. But those who oppose the transmission of sin try to assail it as follows: If Adam's sin, they say, harmed even those who were not sinners, then Christ's righteousness helps even those who are not believers. For he says that in like manner, or rather to an even greater degree are people saved through the one than had previously perished through the other. Secondly, they say: If baptism washes away that ancient sin, those who have been born of two baptized parents should not have this sin, for they could not have passed on to their children what they themselves in no wise possessed. Besides, if the soul does not exist by transmission, but the flesh alone, then only the flesh carries the transmission of sin and it alone deserves punishment. Thus, declaring it to be unjust that a soul which is born today, not from the lump of Adam, bears so ancient a sin belonging to another, they say that on no account should it be granted that God, who forgives a person his own sins, imputes to him another's.

16 Again, the effect of the gift is not the same as that of the one sinner. Rather, it is greater. For the judgment from the one person is to condemnation. From one righteous person who sinned has proceeded a judgment of death. But grace is from many transgressions to justification. Because Adam did not come by as much righteousness as he destroyed by his example, but Christ by his grace discharged the sins of many; and because Adam became only the model for transgression, but Christ both forgave sins freely and gave an example of righteousness.

17 For if by the sin of one person death reigned through one person, how much more shall those who have received an abundance of grace and of the gift and of righteousness reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ. By which he has forgiven many sins; and an abundance of the gift of the Holy Spirit, because there are many gifts (cf. 1 Cor. 12:4); and also righteousness is given through baptism, and is not gained by merit.

18 Therefore, just as through one person's transgression in all people to condemnation, so also through one person's righteousness in all people to justification of life. Death reigned, is understood; so also grace reigned through justification.

19 For just as through one person's disobedience many were made sinners, so also through one person's obedience many will be made righteous. Just as by the example of Adam's disobedience many sinned, so also many are justified by Christ's obedience. Great, therefore, is the crime of disobedience that kills so many.

20 For the law stole in so that transgression abounded. In case they say, But the law forgave us our sins', he says, It did not come to forgive transgressions, but to point them out, and when it is transgressed knowingly, transgression begins to abound. It is as if he were saying, as I see it, that the law did not take away sins, but added to them, and not because of its own fault, but because of theirs. Now it stole in that is, it entered unexpectedly and so it turned out that transgression abounded. But where transgression abounded, grace abounded all the more. Just as the Savior says: 'One who is forgiven more loves more (Luke 7:47). For the amount of sin has been revealed so that the greatness of grace might be known and so that we might pay back a corresponding debt of love.

21 So that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace reigns through righteousness in eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. [So that,] just as the reign of sin was abundantly established through contempt for the law, so also the reign of grace is established through the forgiveness of many sinners and thereafter through the doing of righteousness without cease.

Romans 6:1 What then shall we say? Shall we remain in sin, so that grace may abound?

2 Certainly not! Lest those who do not understand say: If grace increases in accordance with the number of transgressions, we should sin, so that more and more grace can abound. Certainly not! I speak of those whom faith found in sin, not of us who have already died to sin so that we might live for grace. For how shall we who have died to sin still live in it? He wants one who has been baptized to be as steadfast and as perfect [as one who in a way cannot sin]

3 Or are you unaware? Or do you not know about this sacrament, baptism? That whoever of us was baptized into Christ Jesus. Baptism is received in the Scriptures in three ways: with water; with the Holy Spirit who is also called fire; and with blood in martyrdom, concerning which our Savior said: 'I am to be baptized with a baptism (Luke 12:50). Was baptized into his death. So that we died with him in baptism.

4 For we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ arose from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. He shows that we were baptized in this manner so that through the mystery we are buried with Christ, dying to our offenses and renouncing our former life, so that just as the Father is glorified in the resurrection of the Son, so too on account of the newness of our way of life he is glorified by all, provided that not even the signs of the old self are recognizable in us (cf. Rom. 6:6). For we ought not to want or desire anything that those who are not yet baptized, and all those who are still entangled in the errors of the old life, want or desire.

5 For if, having been planted with him, we have been made in the likeness of his death, we shall at the same time also be made in the likeness of his resurrection. If we are buried with him now, we can also be participants in his resurrection then; and if we have become new and been changed in our way of life, we shall be likewise new and changed in glory.

6 Knowing this, that our old self. Who used to sin by imitating the old earthly man, Adam (cf. 1 Cor. 15:47). Was at the same time crucified. Understand that through baptism you, who have been made a member of his body, is crucified with Christ (cf. Eph. 5:30). And he, in fact, hangs his innocent body so that you may restrain your guilty body from vices. In accordance with this mystery Moses suspended the bronze serpent in the desert (cf. Num. 21:9; John 3:14). So that the body of sin might be torn down, so that we are no longer slaves to sin. That is, so that all the vices might be torn down, because one vice constitutes a member of sin, all vices the body; for Christ was crucified not in part, but altogether. Or: So that our body might be torn away from slavery to sin, and no longer to be serving as a slave to sin or everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin ( John 8:34).

7 For one who has died is justified from sin. That is, alienated from sin: for the dead do not sin in any way. So also, 'one who is born of God does not sin (1 John 3:9): for because he has been crucified, and all his members are filled with sorrow, he will hardly be able to sin.

8 For if we have died with Christ, we believe that at the same time we shall also live with him. If we have not died with him, we shall also not live with him, because we are not his members.

9 Because we know that since Christ arose from the dead he is no longer dead: death shall no longer have dominion over him. So we too shall not fear the second death, if here we have died willingly (cf. Rev. 2:11). Or: No longer can you be baptized a second time, because Christ cannot be crucified for you a second time, as he writes to the Hebrews: It is impossible that those who have once been enlightened, and so on (Heb. 6:4). He does not refuse these people penance, but denies them a repetition of baptism.

10 For in that he died to sin, he died once for all. Because he carried our sins and suffered for us, so that in future we might not sin. But in that he lives, he lives to God. He lives in the glory of divinity.

11 So also you should consider yourselves to be in fact dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. As members of him, you should understand that, having died with him once for all, you ought now always to live for God in Christ; in him our life is hidden with God, and since we have been clothed with him, we should follow his example.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. You should live in your mortal body as if you were immortal: he also explained how sin reigns in the body, namely, by obedience and consent.

13 Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness. Every single member is made a weapon of wickedness to defeat righteousness, if it turns its function to bad use. At the same time it should be noted that it is through freedom of choice that a person offers his members for whatever side he wishes. But present yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the dead. As if you have already been raised from the dead, because then people neither live carnally nor sin. And your members to God as instruments of righteousness. So that the eye which in times past looked over the naked with lust now looks to clothe them. In the same way take heed of the rest of the members [as well.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law. Sin shall not vanquish you: for you are not children, but adults (cf. Gal. 3:23-6. It is as if a teacher says to a young man, Avoid errors of style; you are no longer learning from a grammarian, but from an orator. Or sin should not have dominion. But under grace. He offered, by way of grace to overcome sin, teaching and example, and in addition power through the Holy Spirit.

15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? In case they say: 'Then, because the punishment of the law has come to an end, we shall sin with impunity. By no means! If you sin, you will not be under grace.

16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to obey someone as slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, whether of sin or of obedience to righteousness? If you wish to be in the service of sins, you [will] begin to subject yourself to the judgment of the law, which exacts punishment against sinners: but if you obey righteousness, you are not under the law, but under grace.

17 But thanks be to God that you were slaves of sin. Were, he says, not are. But have obeyed from the heart. That is, faithfully. According to the form of teaching to which you were delivered

18 and having been set free from sin, have been made slaves of righteousness. According to the teaching and example of Christ, who taught one to eliminate not only sins, but also occasions for sins.

19 I speak in human terms on account of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members to serve impurity and wickedness upon wickedness, so now present your members to serve righteousness unto sanctification. I speak in human terms because you are not yet able to listen entirely 'in divine terms'. For although you ought to serve righteousness much more than you previously served sin, I nevertheless make allowance for your weakness, so that you may serve righteousness merely as much as you served sin. Or: I speak in terms befitting human reason so that everyone can agree with me and no one dissent. He says, You presented your members, because whatever the soul does in a carnal fashion is held against the flesh; but if the flesh performs a spiritual deed, the whole person is made spiritual: or, as the saying goes: The body that is corrupted weighs down the soul! (Wisdom. 9:15). The fact is, we presented our members to serve sin; it is not the case, as the Manichaeans say, that it was the nature of the body to have sin mixed in.

20 For although you were slaves of sin, you have become free for righteousness. That is, since you are in no way slaves to sin inwardly, so now also become free from every sin.

21 What benefit, then, did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death:

22 but now that you have been set free from sin, and have become slaves to God. Without doubt there is no benefit in a thing for which one feels shame in repentance. For everyone who comes to know goodness is ashamed of former actions: but whoever is ashamed of righteousness is not aware of its fruit (cf. Heb. 12:11). Therefore, those who sin do not even have any benefit in the present, and in the future reap death without end: but those who serve God both have a benefit in the present, the gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal life in the future. Alternatively: What sort of benefit have you had in doing those things of which even the recollection brings a feeling of shame? You have your benefit in sanctification, and have life eternal at the end. This itself is already a benefit, that, having been sanctified by baptism, you are alive.

23 For the wages of sin is death. One who does military service for sin receives death as remuneration. But the grace of God is life eternal. He did not say in a similar manner: 'the wages of righteousness', because there was no righteousness in us beforehand for him to repay: for it is not procured by our effort, but is presented as a gift of God. In Christ Jesus our lord. In Christ is grace or life.

Romans 7:1 Or do you not know, brothers--for I speak to those who know the law-that the law has dominion over a person as long as he lives? From here on he begins to demonstrate the difficulty of the law, in order to urge them to pass over to grace without the fear which belongs to the law. As long as he lives: the person or the law that is for him.

2 For a woman who is subject to a husband is bound to him by law as long as he lives: but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. By way of analogy he calls the commandment of the law a husband, and the people or the soul a wife, to show that without the power to punish the law, as it were dead, cannot hinder us, who have already been mortified, from passing over unimpaired to Christ, who has risen from the dead. For the law would legitimately go on living in us if it found something it could punish in us.

3 Therefore, as long as her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress if she is with another man: but if her husband dies she is freed from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she is with another man. As long as her husband is alive, she must live according to his will alone: but when, after he has died, the wife is married to another man, she should no longer live according to the custom of her former husband.

4 Now then, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law. He was reluctant to tell them, according to the analogy, that the law is dead, but what he dared not say among the Jews he leaves to be understood. Through the body of Christ. By dying with Christ, who condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3). So that you belong to another man is understood. Who has risen from the dead, so that we may bear fruit for God. One bears fruit for God when in works of righteousness one, after the manner of fruit, first breaks out] in blossom, then grows into fruit, and finally becomes fully ripe: for no fruit is forever in blossom. One who is led by the pleasure of the flesh and is kept from obeying the law of God is in the flesh, because it is not possible to serve two masters (cf. Matt. 6:24). But now we who have been taught by the grace of the Holy Spirit to overcome the passions are not in the flesh, because we are dead to the law, which does not contain the teaching of grace. The new form of service is not to love the world, nor the things that are in the world (cf. 1 John 2:15), and not to devote the attention of the flesh to evil desires (Rom. 13:14). For when the law promised the good things of the earth, it knew how to nourish the desires of the lovers of the flesh. But the disciples of Jesus, who have renounced the world, have with good reason died to the law.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the passions for sins, which were through the law, worked in our members. When we were in a way of life that was carnal, the passion of concupiscence, for instance, worked in the eyes, and the rest of the passions in the rest of the members (cf. Matt. 5:28); these passions were shown to be sins by the law. So that they bore fruit unto death. So that the severity of the law killed us.

6 But now we have been released from the law, dying to that by which we were held prisoner. Because we die to the sin for which we were held by the law. So that we serve in the newness of the spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. According to the biddings of spiritual grace, not of the written law.

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Because he had said that he was released from the law through death. Certainly not! This contradicts the Manichaeans. Because if they say: He is afraid of giving offense, one should reply: 'If, therefore, he was always afraid and never spoke against the law, then on what basis do you venture to say that he did not keep it?' But I did not recognize sin except through the law. From here on he speaks in the person of one who accepts the law, that is, who first comes to know God's commandments while he is still in the habit of breaking them. For I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said: 'You shall not covet.' He did not say: 'I would not have been in the habit' or 'I would not have done it', but 'I would not have known', that is, I would not have known that covetousness is a sin.

8 Then sin, once it received the opportunity through the commandment. Here he seems to call the Devil sin, as he is [also] called in the Apocalypse, namely, as the author of sin. He is saying, then, that because the opportune arrival of the commandment took away the excuse of ignorance, it made him sin more vehemently than before, just as every hateful person does. One especially seizes the opportunity for doing harm when one entrusts something to a person for whom one is setting a trap. Worked in me every sort of covetousness. [Every sort] which has been forbidden [by] the law. For without the law sin was dead. The natural law, which had [first] brought to mind what was sin, had almost been forgotten. Therefore the written law was added to remind those who had forgotten.

9 Now I lived without the law once. I imagined I lived as one righteous and free. Or: meanwhile I was alive at least for this present life. Yet when the commandment came. When the commandment arrived to put an end to forgetfulness, sin was once again recognized, so that everyone who commits it knows that he is dead. Sin came back to life. Because sin had lived by natural knowledge and died through forgetfulness, it is said to have come back to life through the law.

10 But I died. Because now I transgressed knowingly. And I found that the commandment that was intended for life actually resulted in death. The commandment that would have progressed to life, if it had been kept, led to death, because it was disregarded.

11 For, once it received the opportunity through the commandment, sin led me astray and killed me through the commandment.

12 Thus the law is indeed holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Against those who attack the law and against those who separate justice from goodness, the law is called a good and holy grace [on the one hand], and a just grace on the other: 'For unless your righteousness abounds' ( Matt. 5:20). Moreover, God is regularly called good in the Old Testament (cf. Ps. 72:1) and just in the New: 'O righteous Father', says the Lord ( John 17:25). This contradicts the Marcionites.

13 Then that which is good becomes death for me? By no means! The law does not become for me the actual cause of death, but I do, when by sinning I encounter death. But in order that sin might be manifest as sin, it worked death for me through what is good. Sin was revealed through the law, which is good, and was punished by it. So that sin becomes a transgressor beyond measure through the commandment. Before the law sin had limits because of ignorance: it is beyond limits when it is committed knowingly.

14 Now we know that the law is spiritual. Which enjoins spiritual things. [Now the argument proceeds in the person of one who is of legal age. For one who says that the law is spiritual condemns himself when he sins of his own will. This is why he added: 'But I am carnal, sold as a slave under sin.' He indicates that while he was free he sold himself as a slave to sin. For what, again, does he say?] But I am carnal. I, someone who accepts the law and is in the habit of living carnally. Sold to sin.

15 For I do not understand what I do: for I do not do what I want to do, but what I hate to do I do. [Sold as if] I were resolved upon sin, so that, should I accept its advice, I make myself its slave, I of my own accord subjecting myself to it (cf. John 8:34); and now, as if drunk with the habit of sins, I do not know what I do: 'For I do not understand what I do.' Or: It should be read this way: I do not understand, therefore, that what I accept [in a way] against my will is evil.

16 If then I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. If I do not want to do the particular evil I commit, at least I agree with the law, which does not desire evil and prohibits it. But it can also be understood thus: If I sin, I myself subject myself to the severity of the law.

17 However, now I no longer do it. Before it became a habit, therefore, I myself did it willingly. But sin that lives in me. It lives as a guest and as one thing in another, not as one single thing; in other words, as an accidental quality, not a natural one.

18 For I know that what is good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. He did not say: 'My flesh is not good.' For it is near to me to wish. The will is there, but not the deed, because carnal habit opposes the will. But I do not find it in myself to carry out what is good. I do not see myself doing it.

19 For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want I do. Just as if, for instance, someone who has been swearing regularly now for a long time swears even when he does not wish to.

20 But if I do what I do not want to do, it is not I that does it, but sin that lives in me. Not I, because I do it [as it were] against my will, but the habit of sin, though I myself have provided myself with this compulsion.

21 So then I find a law for me when I wish to do good, that evil is there with me. If I want, I find that I have a law to do good against the evil that lies near [me].

22 For I delight in the law of God with the inner self. [The inner self is the rational and intelligible soul, which is in harmony with God's law, for its law is to live rationally and not to be led by the passions of the irrational animals. The outer self, on the other hand, is our body. Now its law is the wisdom of the flesh, which instructs one to eat and to drink and to enjoy other sensual pleasures. These fight against reason, and if they gain the upper hand subject it to the law of sin. For if it is the case, as some suppose, that we do what we do not want to do, he would not have said the next verse:

23 But I see another law in my members, fighting against. Habitual desires, or the persuading of the enemy. The law of my mind. Namely, of natural conscience, or of the divine law, which resides in the mind. I agree with the law with the mind. And taking me prisoner for the law of sin that is in my members. In the habit of transgressions.

24 What a wretched person I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? I who am held prisoner in this way--who will set me free from this fatal, corporeal habit?

25 The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. [Grace sets free] the one whom the law could not have set free. Was Paul then not yet set free by the grace of God? This shows that [the apostle] is speaking in the person of someone else, [not in his own person]. Therefore I serve the law of God with my mind. He reviews the main points in order to bring the discussion to an end. But the law of sin with my flesh. The carnal person is, in a sense, made up of two persons and is divided within himself.

Romans 8:1

There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh. There is nothing deserving of condemnation in those [who] have been crucified to the works of the flesh.

2 For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Observe that he calls the law grace. Has set you free from the law of sin and death. Which [was given to sinners and] puts them to death (cf. 1 Tim. 1:9). [Or: From the law which above he had said was in the members (cf. Rom. 7:4).]

3 For because it was impossible for the law. To make carnal people preserve righteousness, since neither example [nor grace] was given for mortifying the flesh (cf. Rom. 8:4, 13). Inasmuch as it was weakened by the flesh. It was weakened in the flesh, not in itself. God sent his Son. Against Photinus, who denies the existence of the Son before the flesh. In the likeness of the flesh of sin. Here 'the likeness [of the flesh]' possesses reality, just as 'Adam begat according to his likeness' ( Gen. 5:3). He therefore took flesh like the flesh of the rest of humanity, as far as the nature is concerned. And by sin he condemned sin in the flesh. As if you were to say: 'By like he overcame like.' Just as the sacrificial victims that they offered for sin under the law were given the name of sin, although these victims were unacquainted with transgressions--as it is written: '[And] he shall place his hand on its head for its sin' ( Lev. 4:29)--so also Christ's flesh, which was offered for our sins, took the name of sin. Some, in fact, say that by means of the sin of the Jews, whereby they killed the Lord, he condemned through humankind the sin of the Devil, whereby the Devil had deceived humankind; as he says to the Hebrews: 'So that through death he destroyed him who held the power of death' ( Heb. 2:14). Or: Through the substance of that flesh which previously was slave to sin, he conquered sin by never sinning, and in that same flesh he condemned sin, to show that the will was arraigned, not the nature, which God created in such a way that it [was able] not to sin[, if it so wished].

4 So that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. So that, since it could not have been fulfilled in those in whom carnal habit fights back, it at least may be fulfilled in us, who have mortified the flesh according to Christ's example.

5 For those who live according to the flesh occupy their minds with the things that are of the flesh: but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things that are of the Spirit. A person is composed of spirit and flesh. When, then, a person performs carnal deeds, the whole person is called 'flesh'; but when spiritual deeds, the whole person is called 'spirit'. For when one of these substances brings the other under its sway, this other substance in a way loses its own power and name. For individuals, separate [substances] desire things that are related to them and close to them.

6 For the prudence of the flesh is death, but the prudence of the Spirit is life and peace. He says elsewhere that it is human prudence to repay evil for evil (cf. Rom. 12:16-18). Such prudence, then, procures death by transgressing the precept (cf. Matt. 5:38-48): but the prudence of the Spirit enjoys peace now because it does not repay in kind, and will obtain life in the future. Indeed, 'prudence' is derived from 'providence'.

7 Because the wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God: for it is not subjected to the law of God. The flesh itself is not hostile to God, as the Manichaeans say, but the carnal mind is. For everything that is not subject is hostile, and anyone who wishes to clear himself sometimes even goes beyond the limit of the old law. Nor can it be. He said it is impossible so that at least by this means he might call them back from the desires of the flesh.

8 Indeed, those who are in the flesh This proves that above he found fault not with the flesh, but with the works of the flesh, because those to whom he says this were no doubt living in the flesh. Cannot please God. For it is impossible that one does not sin some time or other once one has given oneself over to the flesh.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. That is, busy [with] spiritual things. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. The Spirit of God dwells in those in whom his fruit is manifest, as he says to the Galatians: 'Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy', and so on ( Gal. 5:22). But anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. The Spirit of Christ, who loved his enemies and prayed for them, is the Spirit of humility, patience, and all the virtues (cf. Matt. 5:44; Luke 23:34; Ecclus. 2:4).

10 But if Christ is in you, your body is in fact dead because of sin. If you imitate Christ, the carnal mind, as if dead offers no resistance. This is why David also said: 'But like the deaf I did not hear, and like the mute who does not open his mouth', and so on ( Ps. 37:14). But the spirit lives because of righteousness. The spirit lives in order to produce righteousness: for the object is not just that we leave off carnal things, but also that we do spiritual things.

11 Because if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the indwelling of his Spirit in you. If you are so pure that the Holy Spirit deigns to dwell in you, God will not allow the temple of his Spirit to perish (cf. 1 Cor. 6:19), but in the same way he raised Jesus from the dead so also will he restore your body.

12 Therefore, brothers, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. The force of this whole argument is to show that the law, which was given for the carnal-minded, is not necessary for them.

13 For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die. Because, as has been explained, carnal people cannot preserve righteousness. But if by the Spirit you have put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live. [If] you have substituted the works of the flesh with spiritual deeds. One should note that the works, not the substance, of the flesh are condemned

14 For all who are moved by the Spirit of God are children of God. All who are worthy to be governed by the Holy Spirit; just as, on the contrary, those who sin are moved by the spirit of the Devil, a sinner from the beginning (cf. 1i John 3:8).

15 For you have not received again a spirit of slavery in fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as children. The Jews received a spirit which constrained them into service by means of fear. For it is in the nature of slaves to fear, of sons to love, as it is written: 'The slave shall fear his master, and the son shall love his father' ( Mal. 1:6). Therefore, those who were not willing to labor out of the desire of love are compelled by the constraint of fear: but let us perform all things willingly, so that we may show that we are sons. By which we cry out: Abba, Father. He who calls to his father declares himself a son: he ought, therefore, to be found to resemble his father in character, lest he be subject to a greater penalty because he in fact assumed the name of his father in vain (cf. Exodus. 20:7; Deut. 5:1).

16 That Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are children of God. The evidence of our adoption is the fact that we have the Spirit, through whom we pray in the manner mentioned above; [for] such a pledge only sons could receive (cf. 2 Cor. 1:22, 5:5; Eph. 1:14).

17 But if children, then also heirs, heirs in fact of God, and co-heirs with Christ. He who is worthy to be a son is worthy to be made an heir of the Father and a co-heir with the true Son. If indeed we suffer with him. If, when it becomes necessary, we suffer for his name's sake such things as he endured for us (cf. Acts 5:41). So that we may also be glorified with him. As John says: 'We know that, when he appears, we shall be like him' ( 1 John 3:2).

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this age are not worth comparing. He desires to commend future glory so that we may more easily bear present afflictions. And indeed, no human being could suffer anything that equals heavenly glory, even if that glory were comparable to this present life. For whatever he will suffer in dying is no more than what in fact he previously deserved for his sins; now, however, his sins are forgiven, and in the future he will be granted life eternal, fellowship with the angels, the splendor of the sun, and the other things which we read have been promised for the saints (cf. Dan. 12:2-3; Matt. 13:41-3; Rev. 7:9-17). With the future glory which will be revealed to us. For at the moment 'it is hidden with Christ in God' ( Col. 3:3), and 'it has not yet become manifest what we shall be' ( 1 John 3:2).

19 For the expectation of creation awaits the revelation of the children of God. Different interpreters explain this passage in different ways. Either: The whole creation awaits the time of the resurrection, because then it will be changed into something better. Or: Angelic, rational creation: for Peter says that [even] the angels long for the glory of the saints (cf. 1 Pet. 1:12). Some even say that 'creation' is Adam and Eve, because they did not sin by themselves, but at the instigation of the serpent, who long ago, when they were exposed to deception in the hope of divine existence, made them subject to corruption. 'And they', say these interpreters, 'will be set free, so that they are no longer subject to corruption.' But 'the whole creation', they say, is those who were righteous up to the coming of Christ, because they too, not yet having received, [wait, 'while God] provides something better for us' ( Heb. 11:39). Not only they, however, but we, in whom these things have been fulfilled, do not yet hold it in our grasp, but bear up in hope, although we have seen things which many righteous longed to see (cf. Matt. 13:17; Luke 10:24).

20 For to vanity creation Vanity is everything that some day comes to an end. was subjected. As the angels, who wait upon humankind. Not of its own will, but on account of him who has subjected it in hope,

21 because even creation will be set free from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. It shall no longer serve those who have corrupted the image of God [in themselves] (cf. Gen. 1:26).

22 Now we know that the whole creation groans and is in labor right up to the present time. Just as 'the angels rejoice over those who repent' ( Luke 15:10), so they grieve for those who are unwilling to repent.

23 Not only creation, however, but we too, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan within ourselves for adoption as children. Not only do the angels, who are kinder than we are, [grieve] over these unrepentant people, but we too, who already [have] the Holy Spirit, groan for such people, as also Jeremiah groaned: 'Alas, my soul, for the God-fearer has vanished from the face of the earth!', and so on ( Micah. 7:1-2). Awaiting the redemption of our body:

24 Therefore we were saved in this hope. We have not yet beheld the very things that were promised, but we hope, as he says to the Corinthians: 'For we walk by faith, and not by sight' ( 2 Cor. 5:7). Now hope that is seen is not hope: for who sees what he hopes for? What is seen is not hoped for, but, if it belongs to one, is owned. Christians, therefore, have no hope in the things that can be seen, for we have been promised not things present, but things future.

25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we await it with patience. The reward for faith with patience is great, because one believes what one does not see (cf. John 20:29), and is as sure of what has not yet been received as if one has already received it. As he says to the Hebrews: 'You must have patience, so that by doing the will [of God] you obtain the promise' ( Heb. 10:36). For hope does not know how to exist without patience.

26 And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness. He helps in accordance with this hope, so that we request not earthly but heavenly things. For our ability is weak, unless it is helped by [the illumination] of the Holy Spirit. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. Because we still [see] through a glass dimly (cf. 1 Cor. 13:12), [and] often the things we judge to be helpful are harmful. Therefore the things we requested are not granted by divine providence, as also he himself says elsewhere: 'Therefore three times I asked the Lord that it might leave me', and so on ( 2 Cor. 12:8). [Alternatively: We are scarcely able to put into words the intractable longing of our prayer as we have conceived it in our heart. That is why this statement follows directly:] But that very Spirit makes requests for us with groans that words cannot describe. [God, then, who searches hearts, knows to what extent we desire to believe, even if we are unable to express it in words. He knows, furthermore, that in accordance with his will we make requests for holy things, not worldly things.]

27 And he who searches hearts knows what the Spirit desires. [As if a high priest.] Because in "accordance with God he makes requests for the saints. Here he has called a gift of the Spirit 'the Spirit', as where he says: 'If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays' ( 1 Cor. 14:14), and [elsewhere]: 'You are emulators of the spirits' ( 1 Cor. 14:12). Now 'he makes requests' because he makes us request with groans which cannot be described, just as God is said to tempt us in order to know, that is, to make us know what sort of people we are ( Deut. 13:3). Even according to popular usage is the master himself said to accomplish what he commands to be done, as in the statement 'he built a house', or 'he wrote a book', though he neither wrote nor built.

28 Now we know that all things work together for good for those who love God. Whatever we do or suffer out of love for God, it all grows into a reward for us. [For] whatever the righteous do will be prospered (cf. Ps. 1:3). For those who have been called according to his purpose.

29 For those he foreknew. The purpose according to which he planned to save by faith alone those whom he had foreknown would believe, and those whom he freely called to salvation he will all the more glorify as they work [towards salvation]. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. To predestine is the same as to foreknow. Therefore, those he foresaw would be conformed in life he intended to be conformed in glory, because 'he will transform the body of our humility into the likeness of the body of his splendor' ( Phil. 3:21). So that he might be the first-born among many brothers. [Here] 'first-born from the dead' into glory ( Col. 1:18).

30 And those he predestined he also called, and those he called he also justified, and those he justified he also exalted. Those he foreknew would believe he called. Now a call gathers together those who are willing, not those who are unwilling; or at any rate the discrimination is not against persons, but rather in time. He says this on account of the enemies of the faith, so that they may not judge God's grace to be fortuitous. Therefore, they are called to believe through the preaching, and are justified through baptism when they believe, and are glorified in charismatic powers or in the resurrection to come.

31 What then shall we say of these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He wants to show that no one can keep those who love God and are loved by God from attaining the glory that has been promised, because the perfect love [that] is in them casts out every reason for mortal fear (cf. 1 John 4:18).

32 He who did not spare even his Son. He allowed him to be handed over, so that the freedom of choice of those who handed him over might be left intact and so that he might set us an example of patience. But handed him over for us all. Not for some. How has he not also bestowed on us all things with him? What dearer thing can he have to deny us, who did not deny his Son?

33 Who will bring charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is there to utter condemnation? Who will dare to charge for previous sins or for disregard of the commandments of the law the believers whom God chose and shows to be righteous by sips and wonders (cf. Acts 2:22)? It is Christ Jesus who died, I should rather say, who also rose again, who also is at the right hand of God. He speaks with regard to the form of the man he assumed, who died and rose again (cf. Phil. 2:7). Who in fact intercedes for us. So that we may be with him where he is (cf. John 14:3). The Arians, obviously, are wont to stir up false accusation on the basis of his intercession, claiming that the one to whom intercession is made is greater than the one who intercedes. To these one must answer that God does not forget so as to need always to be reminded of those whom he himself chose, but that Christ intercedes when as a true and eternal high priest he constantly presents and offers as our guarantee to the Father the man whom he received (cf. Heb. 6:20).

35 Who, then, will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written. After so many and such splendid benefits or promises, what affliction could be so heavy that it tears us away from love for Christ? And in saying 'us' he is saying that all should be the sort of Christians that even perils cannot separate from Christ. At the time of writing, however, the Jews wanted to separate them from Christ in order to recall them to the observance of the law. Because of you we face death all day long. Not because of some crime, but because of you, who said: 'Blessed are you, when they persecute you', and so on (cf. Matt. 5:11). We are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter. This is especially fulfilled in us Christians, for we are not permitted to defend ourselves, but are to bear all attacks with the greatest patience, according to the example of our Lord and Teacher, who 'was led as a sheep for sacrifice' ( Isaiah. 53:7; cf. Acts 8:32).

37 But in all these things we overcome because of him who loved us. All these troubles we count as nothing because of him who loved us so much that he even died for us. And we especially triumph when we die for his name, particularly since it is a light thing to suffer oneself what the [Lord] first deigned [to suffer] for others.

38 For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height, nor depth. I am sure without a doubt that even if [someone] threatens me with death, or promises life, or says he is an angel sent from the Lord, or feigns to be the prince of the angels, or bestows honor in this present life, or holds out the glory of things to come, or works wonders, or promises heaven and staves off hell, or tries to persuade with depth of learning--I am sure that he will never be able to sever us from the love of Christ. Nor will any other creature be able to separate us from the love of God. He named almost every creature, and was not satisfied with this list unless he added that even if there were another creature, it too could not separate us. Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He loved God in Christ. Love for Christ consists in keeping his commandments; as Christ himself says: 'If you love me, keep my commandments' ( John 14:15). He established that brotherly love is the imitation of his own love, when he said: 'By this will all know that you are my disciples, if you love one another' ( John 13: 35). [For this reason] John also [says: 'If] you do not love a brother whom you see, how can you love God, whom you do not see?' ( 1 John 4: 20).

Romans 9:1 I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, for my conscience bears witness to me in the Holy Spirit,

2 that my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart is unceasing. Because he intends to proceed against the Jews, he first assures them that he does not say these things out of hatred for them, but out of love, for it pains him that they do not believe in Christ, who had come to save them as soon as possible. Moreover, because he says that he speaks the truth in Christ, he indicates that a person who has been baptized is one who through communion with the body and blood of Christ abides in Christ, and Christ in him (cf. 1 Cor. 10: 16; John 6: 56); that whatever he says or does in Christ, Christ, of whom he is a member, says or does, and that whatever insults are hurled [against him] are likewise inflicted upon Christ. Furthermore, because he says that on this point his conscience bears him witness, he shows that he tells the truth, which the conscience corroborates in all people, and establishes that he is not charged with lying by an accusation from within.

3 For I wished that I myself were cursed by Christ for the sake of my brothers, who are my kindred according to the flesh,

4 who are Israelites. At one time I wished. Had I been a follower of Christ, I would not have wished. Indeed, I knew that all these things were for them, but after I recognized the truth I forsook those I used to love in this way, and they do not repent. Theirs is the adoption as children. For of them it was said: ' Israel, my first-born son' ( Exodus. 4: 22). And the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law. The giving of the old law and the promise of the new law. And the service and the promises. That is, the ministry of the angels and the prophets.

5 Theirs are the fathers. Abraham [and] Isaac and Jacob (cf. Gen. 50: 24). And from them is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Against the Manichaean, Photinus, and Arius, because he [is] from the Jews, [and] according to the flesh [alone from them], [and] God blessed for ever. So also Thomas worships 'and says: My God and my Lord!', which Christ confirms when he says: 'Because you have seen, you have believed' ( John 20: 28-9).

6 The word of God, however, did not fail. Since he had said above that it pained him that the people of Israel were shut out of the kingdom by their own fault, for all these things had belonged to them (cf. Rom. 9: 1-5), he shows here that those who do not believe are not sons of Abraham, lest one suppose that he was prejudicial to all Jews and upbraid him with the question: 'Did God then lie to Abraham? 'For not all those who are from Israel are Israelites,

7 nor are all children because they are offspring of Abraham. If not all, then still some; and, if not all Israelites are from Israel, then some '[true Israelites] in whom there is no guile' are [also] from the Gentiles (cf. John 1: 47). But in Isaac will your offspring be named. Even then the sons of Abraham were named [in] Isaac alone, and not in Ishmael as well, though he too descended from Abraham's line.

8 That is, those who are children of the flesh are not children of God, but those who are children of the promise are counted among the offspring. For Ishmael was born of a maidservant by sexual intercourse (cf. Gal. 4: 23), but Isaac was begotten beyond natural means from old people by the promise of God. So [too] the promise now makes Christians sons of Abraham--the promise which [his] faith merited --so that he is indeed the father of many nations (cf. Rom. 4: 17-18).

9 For this is the wording of the promise. 'After this time I shall come, and Sarah will have a son.' Here he shows that the people who came afterwards belonged to the promise after the manner of Isaac.

10 Not only her, but also Rebecca. Not only are Ishmael and Isaac, who were begotten [of different mothers], though of one father, not equal in the sight of God; Jacob and Esau too, who were born of Rebecca as a result of a single conception, were separated in God's sight before they were born on account of their [subsequent] faith, so that God's purpose for choosing the good and resisting the evil existed already in foreknowledge. So too, then, he has now chosen those whom he foreknew would believe from among the Gentiles, and has rejected those whom he foreknew would be unbelieving out of Israel. Who bore children by Isaac our father as a result of a single conception. Rebecca is thought to be the first woman to have begotten twins; because this unheard-of thing has befallen [her], she, panic-stricken, enquires of God (cf. Gen. 25: 22-3).

11 For although they had not yet been born or done anything good or evil, so that according to election the plan of God might stand. Or: So that it might be shown that even from a set of twins the one who does not believe is given up.

12 Not because of works, but because of the one who calls, was it said, 'The elder shall serve the younger.' God's foreknowledge does [not] prejudge the sinner, if he is willing to repent. For he says through Ezekiel: 'If I say to a sinner: "You shall surely die", and he, having repented, does what is right, he shall surely live and shall not die' ( Ezek. 33: 14-15).

13 As it is written: ' Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.' Through the prophet the apostle shows that what had been told [first] to Rebecca was fulfilled in later descendants.

14 What then shall we say? That there is injustice on God's part? Certainly not! He was afraid that because he had argued to show that racial prerogative is of no consequence in the sight of God, or in case they did not understand that already at that time it was signified that the later people would be a better people, they supposed him to say that God makes some good, others evil. [And] [because] in their judgment it was unjust to punish those who had not sinned of [their] own free will, he also calls to mind the contrary texts with which they usually supported this view, and, replying to these examples with brief objections, [shows] that they should not be understood as they understand them.

15 For Moses says. 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will show compassion to whom I will have mercy.' This is correctly understood as follows: I will have mercy on him whom I have foreknown will be able to deserve compassion, so that already then I have had mercy on him.

16 Then, it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God, who has mercy. [The argument of the Jew, on the contrary, is: 'Then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs', and again: '[Therefore] he has mercy on whom he wills and he hardens whom he wills.' The apostle, in fact, does not [take away] what we possess in our own will, since he says above: 'Not realizing that God's goodness leads you to repentance?' ( Rom. 2: 4), and also writes to Timothy: 'In every great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, [and indeed] some for noble use, others for ignoble. Now if someone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for noble use, made holy' ( 2 Tim. 2: 20-1). If, as some suppose, it does not depend on the one who wills or on the one who runs, why does he himself also run, as he says: 'I have finished the race' ( 2 Tim. 4: 7), and why has he urged others to run, saying: 'Run so as to take all' ( 1 Cor. 9: 24)? For this reason it is understood that here he takes on the voice of one who questions [and refutes], rather than of one who denies. [Or: Thus it does not only depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but also on the Lord, who assists.]

17 For concerning Pharaoh the Scripture says. 'I have raised you up for this very purpose, to show my power in you, and to proclaim my name in the whole earth.' They present this passage in the wrong way as well. Now it is explained by different interpreters in two ways. Either: Since each one will be punished when the measure and limit of his sins is complete, as in the case of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (cf. Gen. 19: 24-5), Pharaoh accordingly had already exceeded his limit, [and] God wished to make an example of him for the others, as of one already doomed to die, so that the people of God might come to know God's justice and power, and neither dare to sin nor fear their enemies. The same sort of thing that happened to Pharaoh happens when a doctor, seeking the causes of sickness, discovers a remedy in the course of torturing someone already condemned to death for many crimes; or when a judge, though he could punish a guilty man immediately, afflicts him with various torments to rouse the fear of all. Or: He was hardened by God's patience, for after a plague from God ended Pharaoh became harder, and although God knew that Pharaoh had not repented, he wished nevertheless to show his forbearance even towards him.

18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wills and he hardens whom he wills.

19 Then you say to me. 'What is he still looking for? For who can resist his will?' If, then, this too is understood as follows: 'He has mercy on whom he wills [and] he hardens whom he wills' because there is enough wickedness, then your argument also will be lost--the argument that not you, but the will of the Lord, to which there can be no opposition, is the cause of your wickedness. The very nature of God's justice opposes this reasoning of yours.

20 Who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Does what is formed say to the one who formed it. 'Why did you make me like this?' To some it seems that thus far he is still speaking in the person of those who object, because to say that no one can oppose the will of God, who has mercy on one and hardens another, and to add that no one [should] talk back to God [for doing whatever he wishes] amounts to the same thing. But some say that now from here on the apostle replies that even if there were cause for them to make accusation, they ought not to talk back to their Maker, for in comparison to God we are as a piece of pottery is to its artisan.

21 Or does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for noble use and another for ignoble use? According to those who say that these [are] the words of the apostle, he says that the lump of clay is all those who sojourned in Egypt, because Israel too had served idols there. [This is why Ezekiel says that her virginity was defiled in Egypt (cf. Ezek. 23: 8).]

22 But if God, choosing to show his wrath and make known his power, bore with great patience. Because he bore with Pharaoh for a long time, while Pharaoh blasphemed and oppressed his people with hard labors and, in addition, had ruthlessly ordered that little children of an innocent age be put to death (cf. Exodus. 1: 8-16). The vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction. By filling up the quota of their sins they became vessels worthy of wrath, and by their own doing they became vessels prepared for destruction.

23 And in order to show the riches of his glory to the vessels of mercy, which he prepared for glory. They were worthy of mercy, because they had committed lesser sins and had been severely oppressed.

24 Even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles,

25 as he says in Hosea: 'I will call those who are not my people "my people," and she who has not received mercy "she who has received mercy",

26 and it will come to pass in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people", there they will be called "children of the living God".' Since even then some of the Egyptians had left with the children of Israel--for if God showed favoritism, Israel alone ought to receive salvation--so too now he has called not only Jews but also Gentiles to faith. But those who think that this is said not in the person of the apostle, but in the person of the Jews, say, 'He saved as many as he wished, so that he chose even idol-worshipping Gentiles, who had never served God, [and] called few from Israel, as Isaiah testifies'

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. The warning is shown to be for them. 'If the number of the children of Israel is as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved.'Showing that few of them will believe.

28 For he will finish his word and cut it short in equity, because the Lord will make a shortened word upon the earth.' The historical sense is this: just as I shorten and quickly finish off a word, so God will accomplish [this] with all speed. But in prophecy the 'shortened word' is taken to mean the New Testament, because everything is briefly comprehended [and contained] in it.

29 And also Isaiah foretold. 'Foretold' is a good choice of words, because it is written earlier. 'If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom and we would have been like Gomorrah.'Because he did not suffer a few righteous individuals to perish with a multitude of godless people (cf. Gen. 18:20-33). Or: [Unless] Christ, Abraham's offspring, had been sent to set the people free. The interpretation of those who are bringing objections, however, is this: unless he had wished to call at least a few from the Jews.

30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness? If the above is spoken in the person of the apostle, he here once more imagines that they could say: 'If it is not the case, as we say, that it does not depend on the one who wills or on the one who runs (cf. Rom. 9: 16), why have the Gentiles found righteousness, which they never sought before, while Israel could not find it, although they have always sought it?' But if the whole of the above thought is attributed to those who are bringing objections, the apostle here replies and briefly reviews the question by saying: 'What shall I say to these objections that are presented to us, except that the Gentiles believed as soon as they were called, and that the Jews refused to believe?' Even the righteousness which is by faith. Because righteousness is by faith, and they refused to believe.

31 Israel, on the other hand pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law.

32 why? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as if it were by works. He explains once again why they did not find righteousness: because, having wrongly gloried in works, they refused to believe and, as if they were righteous, spurned grace. For they stumbled over the stumblingstone,

33 as it is written: 'Behold I am laying in Zion a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence.' One who sees a stone does not stumble, but one who is blind dashes himself against it, as befell the Jews, who were blinded by their malice and crucified Christ because they did not recognize him. Now it was foretold that Christ would be the stumbling-stone and the rock of offence precisely because many take offence at his birth and death, just as it is written that 'they were offended by him' ( Matt. 13: 57; Mark 6: 3). The apostle himself speaks of 'Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to the Jews, foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who have been called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God' ( 1 Cor. 1: 23-4). Therefore the above passage continues: 'Who believes in him will not be put to shame' ( Rom. 9: 33; cf. Isaiah. 28: 16). Peter too says that 'for those who believe, the chosen stone' is 'the cornerstone, but for those who do not believe a stone for stumbling' ( 1 Pet. 2: 6-8). 'And everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.' Not the Jew alone, but everyone who believes will not be put to shame by former transgressions.

Romans 10:1 Brothers, truly my heart's desire and prayer to God is for their salvation. Here he shows that he prays for his enemies not only with the tongue, but also with the heart (cf. Matt. 5: 44; Isaiah. 29: 13/ Matt. 15: 8).

2 For I bear witness to them that they are zealous for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. They are zealous in pursuing the law, but they do not understand that Christ came according to the law, and that they cannot be justified by the law. Indeed, it is risky to do something without knowledge, because it often turns out contrary to expectation.

3 For since they did not know of God's righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Because they did not know that God justifies by faith alone, and because they thought that they were righteous by the works of a law they did not keep, they refused to submit themselves to the forgiveness of sins, to prevent the appearance of their having been sinners, as it is written: 'But the Pharisees, rejecting the purpose of God for themselves, refused to be baptized with John's baptism' ( Luke 7: 30).

4 For the end of the law is Christ for the righteousness of all who believe. On the day one believes in Christ, it is as if one has fulfilled the whole law (cf. Gal. 5: 3).

5 For Moses wrote of the righteousness which is by the law. Moses himself distinguished between the two kinds of righteousness, namely the righteousness of faith and the righteousness of deeds, because the one justifies the suppliant by works, but the other by belief alone. That the person who does these things will live by them. Therefore, none of them will live, because in this age no one keeps the law perfectly without Christ, since it is also part of the law to believe in him. On account of this passage some think that the Jews have merited only this present life by the works of the law, but the words of the Lord show that this is not true. When he was asked about eternal life, he stipulated the commandments of the law, saying: 'If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments' ( Matt. 19: 17). From this we understand that one who kept the law in his own time had everlasting life.

6 But the righteousness that is by faith says this. 'Do not say in your heart. "Who ascends into heaven?"'-- that is, to bring Christ down.

7 "Or who descends into the abyss?"'-- that is, to call Christ back from the dead.

8 But what does the Scripture say? 'The word is near, in your mouth and in your heart. 'According to the historical sense, Moses in fact said this about the law (cf. Deut. 30: 14), but the apostle applies it to Christ, because the law was [neither] in heaven nor in the abyss. Or: He orders them always to meditate upon the law, so that there they may be able to find Christ (cf. Ps. 1: 2). That is, the word of faith, which we preach. Namely, of the New Testament.

9 Because if you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth, and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead. The testimony of the heart is the confession of the mouth (cf. Rom. 10: 10). You will be saved. From past transgressions, not future.

10 For one believes with the heart unto righteousness, but confession is made with the mouth untoalvation. If, then, faith avails for righteousness, and confession for salvation, there is no distinction between the Jew who believes and the Gentile who believes.

11 For the Scripture says: 'Everyone who believes in him'. Not the Jew alone. 'Will not be put to shame.' Do not put them to shame, therefore, on account of their former actions, since the Scripture says that they cannot be put to shame.

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, generous towards all who call him.

13 And 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' There is one Lord of all, who abounds in mercy and possesses salvation, with which he is generous to all (cf. Deut. 5: 10, 6: 4).

14 How then are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? [This is an objection raised by the Jews about the Gentiles,] that they could not call upon God. Or how are they to believe in one of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?

15 Or how are they to preach unless they are sent? Because the prophets were never sent to them. As it is written. 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace, the Gospel of good things!' Beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim peace, but the feet of those who run after the vain things of this age are ugly and misshapen.

16 But not all obeyed the Gospel. If, then, not all those to whom the prophets were sent obeyed, how much less those to whom no one was sent! For Isaiah says. 'Lord, who has believed our report?' Who has believed what he hears from us, or what we have heard from you to proclaim to others?

17 Faith, therefore, comes from hearing, and hearing through the word. From here on is the apostle's response.

18 But I say: Have they not heard? He confirms that they had in fact heard before. 'Their sound has gone out into all he land, and their words to the ends of the earth.' He intends this passage to be understood allegorically to refer to the cries of the prophets.

19 But I say. Has Israel not known? That the Gentiles were to be called to faith is understood. First, Moses says. Moses is first because almost all the prophets after him spoke of the salvation of the Gentiles. 'I will make you jealous of those who are not a people, with a people that has no understanding I will make you angry.' Before they believed in God, they were not the people of God. Therefore, it is as if he says: 'I shall call those who are not my people, and they will believe in me in order to provoke you, so that, though you should have been their betters, you may be glad to be their equals.' Just as if someone has a disobedient son and in order to reform him gives half of his patrimony to his slave, so that when at last he has repented he may be glad--if, at least, he deserves to receive that much. Or: We were not a people, because 'we were dead in sins' ( Eph. 2: 1, 5).

20 And Isaiah is bold to say. 'I have been found by those who did not seek me.' To the Gentiles, who did not enquire after God in the law, but after idols in ignorance. 'I have been revealed to those who did not ask of me.' [Who] asked not of God, but of demons, through the augurs [and] astrologers and haruspices of the idols.

21 But what does he say to Israel? The very prophet who made promises of this sort to the Gentiles issues warnings here of a similar sort to the Jews, so that you may know that both were foretold! 'The whole day I have held out my hands. 'The whole time I showed wonders or plagues, [and] even so they have not believed. 'To an unbelieving and contrary people.' The holding out of the hands means allegorically the cross.

Romans 11:1 I say, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! Because Paul had sufficiently humbled them, he encourages them in the way a good teacher would, lest he seem to provoke them unduly. God has not rejected everyone, he says, and not for ever, but only those who do not believe, and as long as they do not believe. For I too am an Israelite. If he had rejected everyone, he also certainly would not have accepted me. Of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Not from the class of proselytes.

2 God has not rejected his people, whom he foreknew. He has not rejected the people that he foreknew would believe. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah? In the Book of Kings, where it is written about Elijah (cf. 1 Kings. 19: 9-18). How he appeals to God against Israel. He eliminates opportunity for pride among the Gentiles, in case they become boastful because so few of the Jews believed.

3 Lord, they have killed your prophets, overthrown your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.' All the prophets knew only the things that had been revealed to them by the Lord. This is why the king, uncertain of mind, asked Jeremiah if in the hour in which he spoke with him a word of the Lord had come to him (cf. Jeremiah. 37: 17). And even Elisha says: 'Why has the Lord hidden these things from me?' ( 2 Kings. 4: 27). So too, then, in this passage Elijah was unaware that there were others beside him who worshipped God (cf. 1 Kings. 19: 18).

4 But what does the divine answer tell him? 'I have left for myself seven thousand men. If so many men were hidden from the prophet, how much more are you unaware of how many Jews have been saved and are to be saved! 'Who have not bowed the knee before Baal.' One serves idols not only by offering sacrifice, but also by transgressing. For if one denies God by one's actions, then surely one is at the same time honoring the demons.

5 So too, then, at the present time. Therefore, just as all did not perish then, so too some are saved now. A remnant has been saved according to the election of grace. The election of grace is faith, just as works are the election of the law. Otherwise, what sort of election is it, where there is no difference in merits?

6 But if by grace, then not by works. In case they replied to him about those concerning whom the word comes to Elijah: 'They were righteous; why were these sinners elected?, he added that they too are saved freely, just as the Gentiles. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. Because to bestow gratuitously is called 'grace'. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

7 What then? Israel has not obtained that which it seeks for; Israel as a whole has not obtained righteousness, because it did not seek it by faith, but thought that it was justified solely by works of the law, though it disregarded the greatest commandments of the law. This is why the Savior censures those who strain a gnat and swallow a camel (Cf. Matt. 23:24). The election has obtained it. Those who are elected through faith. But the rest have been blinded,

8 as it is written. The rest have been blinded through unfaithfulness, as it is written: 'Unless you believe, you will also not understand' ( Isaiah. 7:9). 'God gave them a spirit of stupefaction, eyes so that they should not see, and ears so that they should not hear'. [The Scripture says:] 'Before man are life and death; what pleases him will be given to him' ( Ecclus. 15:18)--clearly, so as not to eliminate freedom of choice. It is therefore God's prerogative to give, to allow--to give, however, the spirit of stupefaction that they desired, for they have always disbelieved the words of God. Indeed, if they had wanted to have a spirit of faith, they would have received it. But [even] today Christians who doubt the resurrection [and] reward or Gehenna have sought a similar spirit for themselves: for in this passage the prophet was addressing both unbelievers and sinners. 'To this very day.' Until they repent, as he says to the Corinthians with regard to the veil of the heart (Cf. 2 Cor. 3: 15).

9 And David says: 'Let their table become a snare and a trap and a stumbling-block and a recompense for them.

10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and may you bend their back for ever.' [Alternatively: May you bend them for ever with the weight of their sins, so that they are not forgiven unless they believe.] [The table] where they rejoiced at the death of Christ, while they ate the Passover. This prophecy speaks of those who gave the Savior vinegar and gall to drink. Nevertheless Peter says to them: 'Now I know that you did this out of ignorance. . . . Repent, therefore, and be baptized, every one of you' ( Acts 3:17, 2:38). And Paul himself says a little later: 'Even these are engrafted, if they do not abide in unbelief' ( Rom. 11:23), so that we may know that the spirit of stupefaction has not taken away from them the ability to repent. For immediately afterwards [the apostle] himself releases them.

11 I say, then: Have they stumbled. Once again he explains the position of the Jews. So as to fall? Not at all! They have not fallen away completely and beyond hope. But out of love for them there is salvation for the Gentiles, so that they may be jealous of them. He loved them so much that the Gentiles were called for their salvation, so that when they saw that the Gentiles were allowed into the kingdom of God, they might perhaps repent more readily.

12 But if their transgression is riches for the world, and their loss is riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! If their transgression benefited you to the extent that without the works of the law you were made co-heirs with them, and if the few Jews who believed called all of you to salvation, how much more could they benefit you with instruction, if they all believed!

13 For I say to you Gentiles. He wants to show that he is especially anxious to save the Jews. As long as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I shall honor my ministry. As long as I reside in the body, I shall honor my ministry, striving to save many of them by my example (Cf. 2 Cor. 5: 6-8).

14 If in any way I am zealous for my flesh. So that in every way I present myself to them in such a manner that they desire to imitate me. So that I may save some of them. At least some, if not all are willing.

15 But if the loss of them means the reconciliation of the world. He has repeated what he had said above (cf. Rom. 11:12). What is their reception, if not life from the dead? What was the occasion for the reception of the Gentiles, but that they came to life as a result of the death of the Jews? [Or:] From among the Jews that were dead, Christ and the apostles have become life to the Gentiles. Or: If those whom I set free from death contribute to your life.

16 But if the first-fruit is holy, so is the whole lump. If the few who believed are holy, so will they all be holy, if they believe. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. The root of the patriarchs. That is, both the first and the last saints come from the patriarchs.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off. They were not broken off for your sake, but you were grafted in because of the fact that they were broken off. And you, although you were a wild olive-tree. An olive-tree, to be sure, but uncultivated and wild. Were grafted into them, and were made to share in the root and the fatness of the olive-tree. In the root of the fathers; in the fatness of Christ.

18 Do not boast over against the branches: for though you boast, you do not support the root, but the root supports you. Do not rejoice in their perdition, or else you will hear that they do not abide through you, but you through them, and that you do not supply them with life, but they supply you.

19 Then you say. 'The branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in;

20 it is a good thing that they were broken off on account of unbelief.' You say that they have been broken off so that you may be grafted in. Let us see if they perished for this reason, and not rather because of their unbelief. But you stand faith. It is not that God was partial towards you and rejected them without cause (cf. Rom. 2:11; Gal. 2:6). Do not be high-minded, but be afraid. Some interpreters, who do not understand this passage and do not consider the reason for which or the people to whom the apostle speaks, think that here the pursuit of wisdom is forbidden But if this is so, he will in their view seem to contradict himself, since here he forbids what elsewhere he asks of the Lord [with great supplications], that the Ephesians and others may receive. Do not be high-minded', therefore, means this: do not be proud towards them.

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will also not spare you. If on account of their unbelief he did not spare those who sprang from the holy root, how much less will he spare you, if you sin!

22 Behold, then, the kindness and the severity of God. Against those who assert that there is one righteous God and another good God; and against those who deny that God punishes sinners. Severity towards those who have fallen away, but kindness towards you. Because they were justly broken off and you were mercifully grafted in. If you continue in his kindness. In the faith which has been bestowed upon you by the kindness of God. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

23 But even they, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in. If, however, [each of you change,] you will experience severity and they kindness. For God is able to graft them in again. It is in fact humanly impossible to restore withered cuttings, but with God all things are possible and are indeed easy (cf. Matt. 19:26).

24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive-tree. For [long ago] their fathers had fallen away from nature because they had forgotten the law of nature, and, when habit had become fixed through repeated sinning, they came to be bitter and unproductive as it were by nature. And, contrary to nature, were grafted into a good olive-tree, how much more will they in accordance with nature be grafted into their own olive-tree! It is against nature to graft a wild olive-tree into a cultivated olive-tree, because the branch usually alters the efficacy of the root, rather than that the root changes the efficacy of the branches to conform to its character.

25 For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers. All of what follows is likewise to prevent the Gentiles from being filled with pride towards the Jews. Of this mystery. A secret which is unknown to humankind, why the Gentiles were saved, because Israel's blindness in fact furnished the occasion for their salvation. So that you be not wise in yourselves. Lest in accordance with human wisdom you say: 'God chose us and rejected them.' That blindness has taken hold of a part of Israel. Both transgressions and faithlessness seized Israel to such an extent that the time came when all the Gentiles were given access to life. All of Israel, thus, was being saved in the same way as the full number of Gentiles--by faith alone--so that, because they had been equals in transgression, they were equals in Christ. Until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,

26 and so all Israel has been saved. The blindness continued until they saw that the Gentiles were being saved, since all were called to salvation. Or: From Judah and Israel, namely from the law. As it is written: There will come from Zion one who seizes and drives away the godless from Jacob.' Some interpreters regard all these as future events. To these one must reply: 'Then this prophecy--"He who delivers" Israel "will come from Zion" ( Isaiah. 59:20)--must still take place, and Christ will come again to set them free; and, if they have been blinded temporarily by God, and not by themselves, what will come of those who perish now as unbelievers?

27 And this is the covenant from me with them, when I shall take away their sins The new covenant that Jeremiah promised, which only those who are new, whose sins have been wiped away, will receive (cf. Jeremiah. 31:31).

28 According to the Gospel they are indeed enemies on your "count. They are my enemies because I preach Christ to you (cf. 1 Cor. 1:23), [as he himself says elsewhere]: 'They keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they maybe saved' ( 1 Thess. 2:16). But according to election they are beloved on account of their forefathers. And if they believe, they are beloved, twice blessed.

29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. If they believe, their sins will not be able to be counted against them, because God does not repent that he made a promise with Abraham's descendants. Or: If they believe, they will be saved without the anguish of penance.

30 For just as you too at one time did not believe God. When the Jews still believed. But now have received mercy on account of their unbelief. Not because you deserved it.

31 So too now they have not believed in your mercy. Christ is the mercy of the Gentiles. So that they too may receive mercy. They have been such unbelievers that they too are justified not by their works, but in mercy, as you are.

32 For God has confined all things in unbelief. He has not imprisoned them by force, but with cause has confined those whom he found in unbelief: that is, all Jews and Gentiles. He confined the Jews because previously they were only sinners, not also faithless. But since they have not believed Christ, they are equal to the Gentiles, and all receive mercy in the same way. So that he may have mercy on all. He does it for this reason, so that he may have mercy on all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! He praises the wisdom of God, who according to his foreknowledge waited until all were in need of mercy, so as to take from everyone the glory that derives from unfounded boasting in works. How incomprehensible are his judgments. 'The judgments' of God 'are a great deep' ( Psalm. 35:7): for they cannot be clearly grasped. And how unreachable his ways. That is, the knowledge of his plans.

34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Previously no one knew it; but at the time of writing Paul himself assuredly knew it, as he indicated to others when he said: 'But we have the mind of the Lord' ( 1 Cor. 2: 16; cf. Wisdom. 9: 134). Or: No one has known it by himself without God's law and grace, and even one who had been furnished with a special word from God needs his teaching. Or who has been his counselor? So as to know his hidden secrets.

35 Or who has first given to him, and is to be repaid? Who has done something beforehand, so that he does not magnify God's mercy, but boasts that [he has received his just deserts?

36 For from him and through him and in him are all things. From him all creation received its beginning, through him it is governed, and in him are all things contained, whereas he is not contained by anything [that is created] (cf. Wisdom. 1:7). To him be glory for ever. Amen. He alone should receive glory, for it is from him, in fact, that we are and live and move (cf. Acts. 17:28). At the same time this passage also contradicts the Arians, when it is said that it is one and the same God from whom and through whom all things are revealed to have been made, since the evangelist indicated that in the beginning everything that was made was through the Word (cf. John 1:1-3), and the apostle here teaches that what the evangelist testifies concerning the Son should be understood and believed of the Father through the mystery of the unity.

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I beseech you, brothers. Because he had mentioned the mind [of the Lord] (cf. Rom. 11:34), he now instructs them how they ought to conduct themselves so that they are worthy to have the mind of the Lord. By the mercy of God. They possessed nothing greater than this, for they had been set free by it. To present your bodies How much more the soul!] Not the bodies of animals, as under the law, which, in spite of the fact that they were a symbolic offering, were nevertheless offered up healthy and unblemished. As a living sacrifice, holy. That is, pure and free from the total death of sin. Pleasing to God. You should only please God, not people. Or: A sacrifice of the sort that pleases him. Let your service be reasonable or which is your reasonable service. Every good work pleases God if it is done in a reasonable manner. For one is deprived of one's reward if, for example, one fasts for public notice (cf . Matt. 6:1, 16); one performs a good [service] foolishly. And the same should be applied to all the vices that border on the virtues.

2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may prove what is the will of God. Do not be like the children of the world, you who have been made children of God, but renew your mind, by which the body is governed and all the members are directed, so that even the movements of the body become new, that thereby you may be able to recognize the will of God and his mind: for these are revealed only to a new mind. What is good and pleasing and perfect. That is, what is good and better and best.

3 For by the grace given to me I say. Since he is about to disallow human wisdom that goes beyond the law, he declares that he speaks not his own mind, but by the authority of a spiritual gift. To all who are among you. Who are priests or teachers, whose example the rest follow. Not to be wiser than one ought, but to be wise with sober judgment. One who searches into matters of which the law does not speak seeks to be 'wiser'. This is why Solomon says: 'Do not enquire after things higher than yourself and do not search after things greater than yourself, but think always on the things that God has commanded you' ( Ecclus. 3:21 (22). And to each one, as God has apportioned. Observe that he calls the Holy Spirit God, for he declares to the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit apportions gifts to each person as he wishes (cf. 1 Cor. 12:11, 28). A measure of faith. A charismatic power, which none but the faithful receive, is to be considered a measure [of faith].

4 For as in one body we have many members. He exhorts them to live in harmony by comparing them with the body, in case they are not roused at least by the fact that they have received different gifts. For they could not as individuals each have all the gifts, lest they became proud because they lacked none. Nor could they all have the same gift, in order that the likeness of the body of Christ may be evident among us. But all the members do not have the same function. For the eye cannot hear and the ear cannot see, and likewise for the other members (cf. 1 Cor. 12:17).

5 So we who are many are one body in Christ, and as individuals are members one of another. So that as we offer to one another what we have, love may grow stronger and stronger.

6 But having different gifts according to the grace given to us. The gift depends not upon us, but upon the decision of the one who gives it. To all who believe there is promised the glory to come, but the person who has a heart so pure that he deserves it receives even in this present life the charismatic power [which God has chosen to give to him]. Whether prophecy, in proportion to faith. To faith, not to the law. Or: Because faith deserves it. For each one receives as much as he believes.

7 Or service, in serving. The service of the office of priest or deacon. Or one who teaches, in teaching,

8 one who exhorts, in exhorting. One who teaches is greater than one who exhorts: for those with less skill can still exhort according to their abilities. It should be noted, in fact, that he listed the person who exhorts only in third place. Or: Whatever the reason why he made this distinction, the spiritual reader should acknowledge it. One who gives, without reserve. So that he is generous to all without reserve, trusting that all who make requests are honest and in need. One who is in charge, with solicitude. One who is in charge of the church or of the brothers should be solicitous. One who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Mercy must be shown especially towards [all] the distressed. Or: A general ascription of mercy is: to present oneself towards all in a gentle manner. 'For God loves a cheerful giver' (2 Cor. 9:7), and doubtless hates a cheerless one, because 'a good word' is 'better than a gift' ( Ecclus. 18:1617).

9 Let love be genuine, detesting what is evil, holding to what is good. Complete purity should dwell in the Christian, just as God is pure light (cf. 1 John 1:5): for it is typical of slaves to dissemble (cf. 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Cor. 6:6). And let us love not only in word, but in deed and in truth (cf. 1 John 3:18), so that, if it were necessary, we would even die [for each other].

10 in brotherly love to one another, loving fervently, having gone before one another in honor You should love one another as if you had been born of the same mother. Outdoing one another in mutual esteem. If we always observe this injunction, we would [unfailingly] maintain love and patience, as he says elsewhere: 'Counting the other greater' ( Phil. 2:3). For if we considered ourselves less than everyone else, we would neither insult anyone gratuitously, nor be deeply hurt if someone insulted us.

11 In brotherly love to one another, loving fervently, having gone before one another in honor. Do not become slow and lazy in God's work through concern for the world. Glowing with the Spirit. Because the Lord does not love those who are cold and is nauseated by those who are lukewarm (cf. Rev. 3:15-16). If we are cold to the world, we then manifestly glow with the Spirit. Serving the Lord. Doing all things not for the world, nor for the vices, but for the Lord.

12 Rejoicing in hope. In hope, not in something at hand: for 'hope which is seen is not hope' ( Rom. 8:24). Patient in trouble. Bear all things on account of the joy of the hope to come, as [the blessed James] says: 'Count it all joy,' and so on ( Jas. 1:2). Urgent in prayer. Urgency in prayer affords us counsel in good times and help in bad times.

13 Sharing in the needs of the saints. Provide for those who need the services of others for a while because they neglect their own affairs on account of Christ. Some codices read: Sharing in remembrances of the saints. This should be understood in such a way that they remember in what manner and with what works the saints won favor with God, and become partners with them by imitating their examples. And then there follows, Eager in hospitality, because the saints did this too--Abraham, for example, and Lot, who detained even [guests] that were reluctant to stay (cf. Gen. 18:1-5, 19:1-3). On this subject it is said: 'For by this some were unaware, while angels received hospitality' ( Heb. 13:2).

14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Let us not suppose that we are obliged to curse as well as bless, for the blessed Peter also says: 'Nor curse for curse, but on the contrary bless' ( 1 Pet. 3:9).

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. So that 'if one member suffers something, all the members suffer it together' ( 1 Cor. 12:26). As Job [also] says: 'Did I not groan and did I not weep, when I saw people in need?' ( Job 30:25). The Lord too was brought to tears by the tears of Mary, to give us an example (cf. John 11:33-5). For one should not suppose that he wept for Lazarus, whom he would bring back to life (cf. John 11:4, 14-15, 40), nor because of the unbelief of those who again and again did not believe him when he performed wonders (cf. John 11:45-53). But we now contrariwise weep with those who rejoice, and rejoice with those who weep. For if someone has been praised, we are made unhappy: if someone has fallen, we leap for joy. When we behave in this way, we show that we do not belong to the body of Christ (cf. Eph. 4:1-16) --we who do not grieve for a member that has been cut off, but are enemies of our own side and friends of the opposing side; who do not grieve when the strongest men of our battle-line fall, and do not rejoice if we see them fighting bravely, though we ourselves are not [as] mighty in battle.

16 Having the same opinion, one of another. So that you regard the other as you regard yourself. Not being high-minded, but agreeing with the humble. That person thinks proud thoughts who desires to avenge [his] wrongs by himself, and does not agree to things humble, that is, to humiliation. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Do not boast of human wisdom, but be fools to the world, so that you may be wise in the Lord. As it is written: 'Blessed is [the man] whom you instruct, Lord, and from your law you teach him' ( Ps. 93:12).

17 Repaying no one evil for evil. It is human wisdom if you seek to repay your enemies in turn: for it is foolishness in this world if, having been struck, [you wish to offer the other cheek as well (cf. Matt. 5:39). But if you have such great patience and humility, you will be found praiseworthy not only in the Lord's eyes, but also in the eyes of all people. Seeing to what is good not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of people. Take care not to act so that you seek to please not God, but people alone.

18 If it is possible, inasmuch as it depends on you, being at peace with all people. Inasmuch as it concerns you, be at peace with all, and say with the prophet: 'With those who hated peace, I was peaceable' (Ps. 119:6-7), desiring, that is, their conversion and salvation. Or: It is in your power for it to be possible.

19 Not defending yourselves, beloved, but giving place to wrath. By fleeing, or by letting yourself be injured. For it is written: "Vengeance is mine: I will repay." says the Lord. I will avenge the wrong, says the Lord, as my own, and not as yours; for the prophet says: 'Whoever touches you is as one who touches the pupil of his eye' ( Zech. 2:8 (12).

20 But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink. Do not deny him what God denies no one, though he be a godless blasphemer (cf. Matt. 5:45/ Luke 6:35). For in doing this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head. So that when he has realized that the coals have been amassed upon him through your undeserved mercy, he may shake them off, that is, repent, and may love you, whom at one time he had detested. Otherwise, it is not mercy, but cruelty, if you show mercy so that something worse may befall him, for whom you are bidden to intercede to the Lord (cf. Matt. 5:44).

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That person is said to have overcome who brings another over to his side, such as the heretic or the pagan. If, then, he makes you repay him in turn, he has conquered you by making you like himself: but if by your patience you make him abandon wrongdoing, you have conquered.

Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the higher authorities. This is an argument against those who thought that they were obliged to use their Christian freedom in such a way that they rendered honor or paid taxes to no one. 1 Paul wishes, therefore, to humble them in whatever way possible, lest perchance they suffer reproach on account of pride rather than on account of God. Thus, he teaches them to redeem the time with humility (cf. Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5). Alternatively: 'Higher authorities' can mean ecclesiastical authorities. For there is no authority except from God. And in what sense does God say through the prophet about some authorities: 'They have reigned, and not by me' ( Josiah. 8:4)? And those which exist have been instituted by God. If it seems he speaks of secular authorities: they will not all be just, even if they received their beginning from God. In fact, the authorities are given over each one to their own desire, for Solomon says: 'because authority is given to you by God. But although you were servants of his kingdom, you did not judge rightly. Soon he will appear before you in dreadful array', and so on ( Wisdom. 6:3-5). For the ruler is established by God to judge with righteousness, and so that sinners may have reason to be afraid, should they sin.

2 Therefore, one who resists the authority resists the institution of God, and those who resist bring condemnation upon themselves. As it is said to Rahab: 'Whoever goes outside will be responsible for himself' ( Josh. 2:19).

3 For rulers are not a terror to good work, but to evil. The wicked should be afraid of the authority, whereas the good have no reason to fear, for if they are unjustly killed they come into glory. Do you wish to have no fear of authority? Take my advice and you will never be afraid. Do what is good, and you will be commended by it. Condemnation of the wicked is itself commendation of the good (cf. 1 Pet. 2:14).

4 For it is a servant of God for your good. Because it is concerned about your security. But if you do wrong, be afraid: for not without reason does it bear the sword. It also has the responsibility towards you that, if you sin, it does not accrue to your profit. Or: Priests bear a spiritual sword, as when Peter struck down Ananias and Paul, the sorcerer (cf. Acts. 5:1-6, 13:4-12). For it is God's servant, an avenger to execute wrath upon one who does wrong. Because God does not love the wicked, and 'hates all who work iniquity' (cf. Ps. 5:6).

5 Therefore, you must be subject, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience. Not only because the authorities can become angry even without cause, but also so that you may not be condemned for the consciousness of some sin. Or: Not only so that the priests may not become angry, but also because you know that even the righteous owe them respect.

6 For this reason you also pay taxes: for they are God's servants, serving in this very thing. 'Taxes' can also mean taxes for the priests, which were established for them by God (cf. Exodus. 30:11-16; Lev. 7; Num. 31:2554). Or: You pay taxes to those who rule because in possessing the world you were willing to be subject to them. He calls them God's servants, so that people might at least render to them what they owe (cf. Matt. 22:21), lest it seem that Christ taught pride.

7 Therefore, pay them all their dues. Even alms can be called a due, as the Scriptures say: 'Incline your ear to the poor and pay your due' ( Ecclus. 4:8). Taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due. Revenue is ours to give to those who are passing by, or to give to those who are seated by the road while we pass by, and thus to bestow upon those who are alive. Fear to whom fear is due. Why, then, is it written elsewhere: 'No one is to be feared besides the Lord' ( Prov. 7:2)? He is saying, however: 'Behave in such a way that you are afraid of no one.' For the fear of God casts out human fear (cf. 1 John 4:18). But because you still have reason to be afraid, it is inevitable that you are afraid. Honor to whom honor is due. Fear, in addition to honor, for those who are your superiors, but honor alone for those who are your equals.

8 Owe no one anything. Do not fail to repay a debt to anyone (cf. Ecclus. 4:8). Except to love one another. This debt alone should always remain, because it can never be paid in full. For one who loves his neighbor. According to the parable of the Lord, who bids us show mercy to all without distinction, we must consider every person our neighbor (cf. Luke 10:29-37). Has fulfilled the law. He mentioned love first because he was writing to the faithful and dealing with behavior proper to righteousness.

9 For 'You shall not commit adultery', 'You shall not kill', 'You shall not steal', 'You shall not covet', and every other commandment is restated in these words: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole of righteousness is summed up in the love of one's neighbor, and unrighteousness is born when we love ourselves more than others. For one who loves his neighbor as himself not only does him no wrong, but also does him good, because he also wishes both to be performed with regard to himself.

10 Love of one's neighbor does no wrong. Even not to do good is wrong. For if one sees that one's neighbor is in danger of starvation, does one not kill him if, while one has an abundance, one does not give him food, though one has not used up one's own provisions (cf. Jas. 2:15-16)? For anyone who is able to help someone close to death in whatever situation of need kills that person if he does not come to his aid. Therefore love is the fullness of the law. That is, the fulfilment.

11 And knowing this is the time, that now it is the hour for us. It is the hour for you to strive for that which is more perfect and complete: for you should not always be children and infants, as he likewise says in another place: 'For you ought to have been teachers by this time', and so on ( Heb. 5:12). To rise up from sleep. Let us together arise from the sleep of idleness and ignorance, for now the knowledge of Christ shines forth. Now our salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. With the increase of knowledge our salvation is nearer than when we believed.

12 The night has gone; the day will draw near. He likens knowledge to the day and ignorance to the night, in accordance with what Hoses says: 'I have likened your mother to the night; my people have become as those who have no knowledge' ( Hoseah. 4:5-6). Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Together with ignorance let us cast off also the works of ignorance, and let us put on the armor of light, that is, works of light. For 'one who acts wickedly hates the light; but one who does the truth comes to the light' ( John 3:20-1).

13 Let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day. Just as the light of day keeps everyone from doing what he freely committed at night, so too knowledge keeps us from spurning the commandments of the law. Or: Because we know that we are always watched by God. Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual indulgence and impurity. A revel is a luxurious banquet: but we have a spiritual feast, as [the apostle] says: 'When you gather together, each one [of you] has a psalm', and so on ( 1 Cor. 14:26). Moreover, that drunkenness is ruinous and an occasion for debauchery is further proved by the fact that he has appended 'impurity'. He also says elsewhere: 'Do not become drunk with wine, for therein lies debauchery' ( Eph. 5:18). Not in quarrelling and jealousy. That quarrelling and jealousy too are objects of reproach is demonstrated [both] here and by [many] other examples, as James says: 'For if you have a bitter spirit of jealousy', and so on ( Jas. 3:14).

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ alone should be seen in us, not the old self (cf. Rom. 6:6): for 'one who says he abides in Christ should himself walk as he walked' ( 1 John 2:6), in whom are all of the virtues and none of the vices. And make no provision for the flesh, for its desires. As Solomon also says: 'Do not follow after your desires' ( Ecclus. 18:30); and again: 'If you grant the desire of your heart, it will [also] make you an occasion for rejoicing among your enemies' ( Ecclus. 18:31).

Romans 14: Accept the weak in faith. From here on he begins indirectly to upbraid those who considered themselves strong and therefore ate meat without restraint. Not for disputes about opinions. Do not judge according to your opinions one whom the law does not judge.

2 Someone believes he may eat everything. Who has such faith that he is not disturbed, or who is worn out by abstinence or is older. But let him who is weak. Weak on account of youthful age or the heat of the body. Eat vegetables. This proves that he is speaking not of the Jews, as some suppose, but of those who abstain: for they did not eat even meats that are clean according to the law, but ate vegetables alone. Alternatively: If you become faint of heart because you happen to know another person who has resolved to eat vegetables alone and you shudder to eat meat on account of his faith, do not be the judge of the other's decision or demand of him what has been left to each person's discretion. But if, on the other hand, you take offence and do not wish to eat meat, set a limit for yourself and, doing the better thing, eat only vegetables, so that everyone may be incited to abstinence by your agreeableness rather than annoyed in this matter and offended by you and strengthened instead in the resolve to eat meat. For you cannot censure another as reprehensible, if someone ventures it in faith or perhaps does it because it is necessary for health or required in old age.

3 He who eats should not despise him who does not eat, and he who does not eat should not pass judgment on him who eats. They took offence at one another. Those who did not eat judged those who ate to be carnal, and those who ate ridiculed those who did not eat as fools and considered them superstitious. For God has accepted him. [God] called him just as he called you.

4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? What authority do you have to judge him whom the law does not judge? This is why James says: 'One who judges a brother judges the law' ( Jas. 4:11); in other words, judges himself to be wiser than the law. Nevertheless, Paul himself judged those who broke a commandment, and ascribed to others the power to judge (cf. 1 Cor. 5:3-5, 6:2-3). By his own master he stands or falls. He either lives or dies; for the one abstains for God's sake, and the other in following God does not abstain. But he will stand: for God is able to make him stand. God, who made three young men who had been fed on beans look better than those who had eaten from the table of the king, can also enable them to remain in the body for a long while yet (cf. Dan. 1:8-16).

5 For one distinguishes one day from another, another distinguishes every day. Let each one abound in his own understanding. With regard to food, the Jews could not judge between one day and the next. Therefore he is speaking about fasting and abstinence, which are not treated under a fixed limitation of the law." Each one should do as much as he can, [and] as much as he desires to share in the reward. Thus it follows that in such a matter each one should do simply what he has judged to be better.

6 One who observes a day observes it for the Lord. One who fasts on account of God, [and] not on account of people, observes the day for the Lord (cf. Matt. 6:18). And one who eats, eats for the Lord: he gives thanks to God. Because he eats for God's sake, so that he may have the strength to preach the Gospel, for which those who have been converted should return thanks to God; he is devoted not to his own belly, but to the salvation of others (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31-2). And one who does not eat, does not eat for the Lord, and gives thanks to God. Because by the example of this person as well many are saved and return thanks to God. For one who gives thanks with the voice gives thanks alone: but one who gives thanks in deed as well gives thanks with many.

7 For none of us lives for himself, and none dies for himself.

8 For if we live, we live for the Lord: or if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. None of the faithful lives for himself and none dies for himself because Christ 'has died for all, so that those who live no longer live for themselves, but for him' ( 2 Cor. 5:15). Take care[, then], that we, on the contrary, do not live for ourselves in eating, or die on account of people in fasting

9 For to this end Christ both died and rose from the dead, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. The coming of Christ will find people alive and will bring those who are dead back to life. It is of no importance whether he brings you back to life or finds you [alive], as long as you appear righteous before him.

10 But why do you judge your brother? By what authority do you condemn him as a voracious glutton? Or for what reason do you despise your brother? For what reason do you look down on him [as though] he were weak or his fast were needless (cf. Rom14:3)? For we shall all stand before the judgementseat of God. Then the Lord will judge our consciences to see with what sort of desire and intention we did what we did.

11 For it is written: '"As I live," says the Lord, "every knee shall bow before me, and every tongue shall confess to God. This testimony shows that all of us must give an account of our actions to the Lord alone.

12 So let each one of us give an account of himself to God. Concerning those things about which the law is silent. But on the other hand, if one does not reprimand someone when one sees him sin, one will also give an account to the Lord for him as well.

13 Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. What you have done up to now is enough. But decide instead not to put a stumbling block or an obstacle in your brother's way. From here on he subtly begins to recommend abstinence, and he says that, although those who eat are strong, they ought to abstain lest the weak are subjected to a stumbling-block by their example.

14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is common in itself. I do not hereby assert that I consider anything to be [common: for I know that all things have been made clean by Christ] (cf. Acts 10:28). For whatever is called common is regarded as unclean among the food of the Jews. Except for someone who considers something to be common, to him it is common. To him it becomes common because of conscience, for in such matters, after coming to faith in Christ, he still deems something unclean according to Jewish custom.

15 For if your brother is distressed because of food. He did not say 'because of fasting', but that you should not by your example incite or constrain one [who is weak or abstemious]. You are no longer walking in love. Because against his will he eats something that is not good for him, and you no longer love your neighbor as yourself if you do not think of his good as you do your own (cf. Rom. 13:8-10). Do not by your food ruin him for whom Christ died. He did not say 'By [your] abstinence', as some wish.

16 So, do not let our good be spoken of as evil. [Our] freedom, which we have in the Lord, so that all things are clean to us. We should not use it in such a way that we appear to live for the belly and for feasts. Or: It is spoken of as evil, if we argue about such things.

17 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink. We are not justified by food.18 However, one should also note that he did not say, 'Fasting and temperance are not the kingdom of God', but 'food and drink'. But righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Which are more easily maintained through abstinence: for where there is righteousness, by loving one's neighbor as oneself (cf. Rom. 13:10), there is also peace; and where there is peace, there is also spiritual joy, because distress and trouble always arise out of discord.

18 For one who serves Christ in this pleases God and is approved by people. Concerning such a person, no one can doubt that he is holy.

19 So, let us pursue what makes for peace. So that [we] do not judge one another in matters of this sort. And preserve what makes for mutual edification. Abstinence is edification: food, on the other hand, even if it does not ruin anyone, edifies no one.

20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. Namely, a human being, created by God.

19 For all things are indeed clean. He repeats what he had said above (cf. Rom. 14:14), lest he seem to condemn creation. But it is wrong for the person who eats while giving offence. What is clean becomes wrong for him if another takes offence on account of him.

21 It is good not to eat meat and not to drink wine. He explains on what account he said the weak took offence. Nor anything at which your brother takes offence or is made to stumble. Nor any food or drink at which another takes offence. Or is weakened. Is weakened from virtue, for 'wine and women lead [even] the wise astray' ( Ecclus. 19:2).

22 Do you have faith? Keep it to yourself before God. If you consider yourself faithful in this matter, eat in such a way that no one is weakened by your example. Blessed is the one who does not judge himself on account of what he approves. Who in demonstrating his own strength does not think of himself, but of the salvation of the other, who is weak.

23 But one who discriminates is condemned if he eats. [If anyone discriminates concerning someone else and says: 'That person, if he eats, is clearly damned', he does not have faith, and therefore the following ensues:] Because it is not of faith. [For it is not of faith if you condemn another because he eats while you fast. Alternatively:] Who thereby judges himself: [for] discrimination and judgment are the same thing, [because judgment] comes about by discriminating and discrimination by judging. And all that is not of faith is sin. Not of faith, which works through love. Whatever, then, destroys another is not of faith and is therefore sin.

Romans 15:1 We who are stronger should bear with the failings of the weak. If you really are strong, do as I did, I who 'became weak [to the weak], in order to gain the weak' ( 1 Cor. 9:22). And not please ourselves.

2 Let each one of you please his neighbor. Let us be commended not by ourselves, but by our neighbors (cf. Prov. 27:2), just as also elsewhere he sets his example before us, when he says: 'As I [too] please everyone in everything, not seeking what is to my advantage, but what is to the advantage of many, so that they may be saved' ( 1 Cor. 10:33).2 For no one can build up another if he has [not] pleased that person beforehand by his good life. But those who do their own will because they are seeking their own advantage are in fact self-pleasers. To build him up in a good way. He indicates the way and the reason to please, so that we do not please for worthless glory. When he says 'to build up in a good way', he at the same time indicates that there is also a bad way, as, for example: 'Will he not be encouraged to eat [what has been sacrificed to idols]?' ( 1 Cor. 8:10).

3 For even Christ did not please himself. An imitator and disciple of Christ does not seek his own advantage. In fact, Christ even died for the salvation of others, and bore the most bitter [insults] from those who said: 'Hah, he who destroys the temple', and so on ( Mark 15:29) But as it is written :'The insults of those who insult you have fallen upon me.' Whatever insults are cast upon not only Christ but also the saints for God's sake are said to be cast upon God, as, for example: 'Where is your God?'

4 For whatever was written, was written for our instruction. Nothing, therefore, is written without reason; for the merits and temptations of the righteous contribute to our edification, because they so very clearly lived for God. So that through patience and the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope. Through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we await with great patience the hope to come. As it is written: 'Those who love your law have great peace, and nothing can cause them to stumble' ( Ps. 118:165). That is, those who enjoy the encouragement of the law cannot be moved by any temptation. [Thus,] so that by the examples of patience [and] encouragement, which have been written down, we may hope for encouragement both in present temptations and, as Lazarus, [in the time to come] (cf. Luke 16:25). For it is great cause for encouragement if we know that our Lord and his saints have previously borne the things which we suffer.

5 And may the God of patience and encouragement. [In this passage he indicates that 'the God of patience' is the Holy Spirit, who grants that with one mind in accordance with Christ we glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.] His patience, which is meant to lead to repentance (cf. 2 Pet. 3:9): encouragement, for those who have already repented. Or: Of patience and encouragement, not of wrath and discord, so as to refer to those [who practice such virtues]. Grant that you be of one mind with one another in accordance with Jesus Christ. So that each one seeks the salvation of the other as his own, in the same way that Christ saved everyone from death by his own death.

6 So that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is truly glorified [by us when] he is praised [with one] mind and one voice. For 'if two agree on earth about anything, whatever they ask shall be done for them' ( Matt. 18:19).

7 For this reason bear one another up. For the sake of God's honor, 'bear one another's burdens and [thereby] you will fulfill the law of Christ' ( Gal. 6:2). He took us upon himself while we were ungodly (cf. Rom. 5:6); how much more[, then,] should we, who are like one another, support each other! As also Christ bore you up to the honor of God. Either into divine glory, or for the sake of God's honor.

8 For I declare that Jesus Christ was a servant of the circumcision because of the truth of God. [Here he shows that with regard to the flesh Christ was born from the circumcision according to the promise to the forefathers and fulfilled the precepts of the law.] Once again he urges each of the two peoples to unity. 'I agree with you, O Jews,' he says, 'that Christ, who was promised to you, came to you first, and that the Gentiles were called because of God's mercy; nevertheless, you have been made into one body.' [The word 'servant' is used] 'because he had come not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many' ( Matt. 20:28). To confirm the promises made to the forefathers. Because Christ had been promised to them, as he himself [also] says: '[For] I have come only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel' ( Matt. 15:24).

9 And that the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. For 'one who is forgiven more loves more' ( Luke 7:47). As it is written: 'Therefore I will acknowledge you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. He deprives the Jews of presumption when he teaches that it was foretold [about] the salvation of the Gentiles, although it was not announced to them. Christ [therefore] acknowledges those who have received mercy among the Gentiles, because they too belong to his body.

10 And again he says. 'Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. [Who have been brought to salvation with them.]

11 And again he says: 'Praise the Lord, all you nations, and magnify him, all you peoples. [Because with the Jews you have been brought to salvation.]

12 And again Isaiah says. 'There will be a root of Jesse'. Jesse was the father of David, of whose seed, that is Mary, Christ was born (cf. Rom. 1:3). 'And he who will rise tip to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles will hope. So that they might not allege [that this was said] about proselytes; in fact, it is like the following passage: 'A ruler will not be wanting from Judah, nor a leader from his loins', [and so on] ( Gen. 49:10). It is thus proved to the Jews that Christ has indeed already come, since it is plain that all the Gentiles hope in him.

13 Now may the God of hope. In whom we all hope. Fill you with all joy and peace in believing. All the joy of the faithful should be in the hope to come. Where there is peace, all is joy. There is no joy, however, in discord, but widespread sorrow. So that you abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit. Abundance of hope rests in the wonders and signs of the Spirit.

14 Now I, my brothers, I too am confident of you. A good teacher, he rouses them to further advancement by praising them, so that they might blush for not being the sort of people they were believed to be by the apostle. That you are full of love. He takes care that it should not seem as if he has sternly rebuked the quarrelsome, the dissident, or the foolish. Filled with all knowledge. That is, of the New and Old Testaments. So that you are able to admonish one another. And at the same time he shows that Christians should always admonish one another.

15 I have written to you quite boldly, brothers, partly. Indeed, I had greater confidence to write because I knew that you, being sensible people, readily accept a reasonable argument. As it is written: 'Reprove a wise man, and he will love you' ( Prov. 9:8). Calling you as it were to mind again. Recollecting that you are sensible. Or: I do not teach you [as] those who are ignorant, but I remind you as those who are knowledgeable. On account of the grace that was given me by God. Not on account of earthly obligations or of praise, but in order to discharge the task I received.

16 To be a servant for Christ Jesus among the Gentiles. A servant of the Gospel; that is, calling slaves who were once runaways back to him. Sanctifying the Gospel of God. Showing by my example that what I perform with so much fear is holy. For some slight as human what they proclaim as divine, with the result that something holy seems to be unholy, since it is not performed in a holy way. For this reason it is said: 'Sanctify the fast' (Joel 1:14); that is,] make it, or show that it is holy. So that the offering of the Gentiles may be made acceptable, sanctified in the Holy Spirit. So that by my example [and my speech the Gentiles may be made an acceptable sacrifice to God, sanctified and borne up not by fire, but by the Holy Spirit, just as it is written that it 'settled on' the apostles 'and diverse tongues as of fire appeared to them' (Acts 2:3).

17 I have glory, therefore, in Christ Jesus towards God. Let him who glories glory in the Lord' ( 1 Cor. 1:31). Alternatively: I have glory in the sight of God, though I am defamed and bespattered in the public eye.

18 For I do not venture to say anything about those things which Christ does not accomplish through me for the obedience of the Gentiles. I have not ventured to claim that at least as far as these things are concerned I have done anything in my own strength, and that God did not work all these things through me. In word and deed,

19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is: By teaching and signs; he was not talking about works here, but about miracles. So that from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum I have disseminated the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel is fully disseminated when the Gentiles also believe.

20 And thus I preached this Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I build on another's foundation. One who builds on another's foundation does not do wrong so long as he builds with gold and so on (of. 1 Cor. 3:12). Here he refers to the false apostles who always went to those who had already come to believe, and never to the Gentiles, because they could not work miracles (cf. Gal. 3:5). He also shows that he had done a complete job, for he both laid the foundation and also built the building on top of it (cf. 1 Cor. 3:12).

21 But as it is written. He shows that his work was foretold beforehand. 'Those who were not told about him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand.'Christ is manifest in the apostles through the miracles which they performed in his name (cf. Acts 4:7-10).

22 This is why I was often hindered from coming to you. He has explained what he had said at the outset: 'And I have been prevented until now' ( Rom. 1:13).

23 But now that I do not have any more opportunity in these parts. Where all the people are already established, he says that he does not have any reason for laying a foundation (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10). 26 And have a desire to come to you. Observe that there is in fact a desire that is good, as: 'I long to be set free and to be with Christ' ( Phil. 1:23), and: 'My soul has longed to desire your just ordinances' ( Ps. 118:20). After the many years that have now passed. He indicates what necessity it was that detained him for many years.

24 When I begin to make my way to Spain. It is not certain whether he ever was in Spain. I hope to see you in passing, and to be brought on my way there by you, as soon as I have enjoyed your company for a while. Because you conduct yourselves in such a way that there is neither cause nor need for me to stay with you longer. The reason he says he will enjoy their company 'for a while' is that they did not need to come to faith, but only to be strengthened in faith. Or: The reason he says 'for a while' is that no amount of time satisfies love.

25 Now, then, I shall go to Jerusalem. This task remains for me. To serve the saints. In Jerusalem there were saints who, having sold all their possessions and laid them at the feet of the apostles (cf. Acts 4:34-5), devoted themselves to prayer, reading, and teaching (cf. 1 Tim. 4:13). It is apparent from this passage that they were of such character that the apostle himself journeys to attend them in person and desires that his offering be received by them--that is, that they deign to receive it--therefore showing that giving benefits those who give more than it benefits those who receive (cf. Acts 20:35). He does this to contradict those who attack the glory of perfection.

26 For Macedonia and Achaea thought it right to collect something. They thought that it would be good for them, if they made some collection for expenses among the saints (Cf. 2 Cor. 9:1-15). For the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. Because they wished to be poor for the edification of the saints. Or: One is to understand simply saints who are poor. 27 For it seemed good to them: for they are indebted to them. By their example he incites the Romans to a similar effort, indicating that not without cause did it seem good to them. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they should also attend to them in material things. Because they obtained teachers from them and 'were made to share in the root and the fatness of the olive-tree' ( Rom. 11:17), each one should share with the other whatever he has in abundance (cf. 2 Cor. 8:14).

28 So when I have accomplished this, and have delivered this fruit to them, I shall go on to Spain by way of you.

29 For I know that I when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of Christ's blessing. If you conduct yourselves well, good teaching will abound in us for you, for the teacher is incited to teach to the extent that the student shows progress. As he says elsewhere: 'Our mouth is open towards you, O Corinthians' (2 Cor. 6:11). Or: Christ will be more fully praised when I come among you.

30 Therefore, I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you assist me with prayers on my behalf to God. He asks that the whole church earnestly pray for him, because he knows that the prayers of many people together have great effect. For when James was killed, Peter was freed from prison by the prayers of the brothers, who offered prayers not so much for his good as for their own, namely that they could be strengthened by his teaching (cf. Acts 12:2-10). Truly, spiritual love makes us pray for one another.

31 So that I may be delivered m the unbelievers who are in Judea. Either: So that they may all believe. Or: That while I am serving the believers I may not fall into the hands of unbelievers so that it would be impossible for me to come to you. And that the offering of my service may be accepted by the saints in Jerusalem,

32 so that by the will of God I may come to you with joy, and be refreshed with you. I shall come in joy if my offering has been accepted by them, and with peace of mind I shall speak the word of God in great measure. For heaviness of heart greatly hinders teaching.

33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. The God of peace dwells only in those who are peaceable. And it is good that he has concluded with peace, because the two peoples are called back to peaceful concord.

Romans 16:1 I commend to you Phoebe, your sister. Although the text of the letter is, as it were, already finished, he has attached this material below for the purpose of commendation and greeting, as is his custom. Who is in the service of the church which is in Cenchrea. As even today women deaconesses who live in the east are known to minister to their own sex in baptism. Or: In the ministry of the word (cf. Acts 6:4), for we find that women taught privately, as for example Priscilla, whose husband was called Aquila (cf. Acts 18:1-3, 24-6).

2 That you receive her in the Lord, as is fitting for the saints, and assist her in whatever matter she requires of you: for she has stood by many others and me as well. That you help her with expenses or support, because she also has helped many people as long as she had the means.

3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus. Who are said to have established Apollo in the faith (cf. Acts 18:24-6), and whom he calls 'helpers' because they also helped in the work of instruction in which he himself labored (cf. Acts 18:19).

4 Who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I but also all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks. By approving of my teaching, they exposed themselves to danger. Therefore all the churches thank them, for I was kept from harm by them.

5 And the church in their house. He shows that a gathering of believers is called a church. Greet my beloved Epenetus, who is the firstborn of Asia for Christ. He was the first-born of the church in Asia. We understand from the names that all those he greets were foreigners, and it is not unreasonable for us to suppose that the Romans came to faith through their example and teaching.

6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard among you.

7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives and fellow prisoners, who are esteemed among the apostles, and who were in Christ even before me.

8 Greet Ampliatus, especially beloved to me in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, my helper in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.

10 Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to Aristobulus.

11 Greet my relative Herodion. Greet those who belong to Narcissus who are in the Lord.

12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet my dearest Persis, who has labored much in the Lord.

13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord. These came from the Jews and, because together with Paul they had suffered tribulation but had not been intimidated, they are here deservedly held in esteem. They, among others, had been sent to further the progress of the Romans, and according to the testimony of Paul himself are reported to have believed before him. And his mother and mine. In age, and not by birth.

14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.

15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereas and his sister Olympiades, and all the saints who are with them. By his example he teaches us what sort of friends we should greet in out letters, not those who are, for instance, rich in worldly goods, or honored with positions of rank, but well supplied in grace and faith.

16 Greet one another with a holy kiss: all the churches of Christ greet you. Not with a feigned and treacherous kiss, of the sort with which Judas betrayed the Savior (cf. Luke 22:48). For in the church the peace is proclaimed first, so that one may show oneself to be at peace with all who are about to partake of the body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 10:16).

17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who create disagreements and obstacles contrary to the teaching which you have learnt, and to avoid them.

18 For these sort do not serve Christ our Lord, but their own belly. He is speaking of those who in his day came from among the circumcised and did away with fasts and abstinence. Disagreeing with apostolic teaching and setting obstacles before the brothers, they preached new moons and Sabbaths and other feast-days for the sake of the belly. And with sweet-sounding speeches and words of praise they lead astray the hearts of the innocent. With blandishments and flatteries framed in polished speech.

19 For your obedience has been noised abroad everywhere. If you obeyed those you should not have obeyed, how much more should you obey us! For this is why these persons came to you, because they knew that you could readily be led astray by unsuspecting obedience. Therefore I rejoice in you, but I want you to be wise in what is good, and guileless in what is evil:

20 and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet quickly. I rejoice with you because obedience is good only if it is reasonable, and therefore I want you to be wise in what is good, so that by being ignorant of evil you bring the enemy down under the feet of innocence. For accordingly the Lord 'has given' us 'power to tread upon scorpions and snakes and every power of the enemy ( Luke 10:19): that is, so that he may not prevail over us, and [so that] we can walk over him with all members free and unfettered.

21 Timothy, my helper, greets you, and Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.

22 I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord

23 Gaius, my host, and the whole church greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, and also brother Quartus. Here he calls the former treasurer 'treasurer', just as he has often called the believers who were formerly Gentiles 'Gentiles', after the manner of the law, which still calls Abigail 'the wife of Nabal' though she had passed over in marriage to David once Nabal had died (1 Sam. 30:5).

24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. This is the closing formula written in his own hand in all his letters (cf. 2 Thess. 3:17), by which he means to call to mind Christ's benefits.

25 To him who is able to strengthen you. With signs and teachings. According to my Gospel and the proclamation Jesus Christ. So that you live in the way that I have preached by the example and authority of Christ. According to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret from time eternal,

26 but which has now been disclosed through the writings of the prophets. The mystery of the calling of all the Gentiles, which through Paul's Gospel, using the testimonies of the prophets, had now been plainly disclosed in Christ (cf. Eph. 3:1-13), had been hidden in the law for a long time. Although the prophets had previously said many things about the Gentiles, none had recognized as clearly as Paul how the Gentiles and the Jews became one in Christ. For they had been able to determine that some should be admitted to the faith as proselytes. Made known among all the Gentiles according to the command of the eternal God for the obedience of faith,

27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. God commanded that all the Gentiles obey and acknowledge God. He alone knew that this would happen at some time, for he alone is naturally wise, just as he is naturally good. Humankind, it is true, is also called good, but we have the ability to be good or wise as a result of instruction, whereas God is good and wise by nature. To him be glory and honor through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.