Commentary on Romans 8.1–8.25

“There is, then, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh.” It is true that there is no condemnation of those who are in Christ Jesus, carefully serving the law of God. “For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death.” He gives man security through the grace of God, so that he need not be anxious about the suggestions of the devil, provided he spurns them; for they will not harm man with respect to the second death; because the law of faith, that is, of the spirit, has freed man from the second death, sin having been condemned; nor does it now harm man that sin is in the flesh, if only he fights against it, mindful of God’s help; indeed one who presses down the counsels of the sin remaining in the flesh is to be crowned; for it is great skill to avoid the ambushes of an enemy within the house. The law of the spirit of life, then, is the law of faith itself. For the law of Moses too is spiritual, because it forbids sinning; yet not of life, because it cannot forgive sins to those guilty of death, so as to give life to those about to die. But this one, because it both does not will sin and calls back from death, is called the law of the spirit of life, consisting not in the letter but in the spirit; because one believes with the heart, and what is believed is spirit. This law, then, in Christ Jesus, that is, through faith in Christ, frees the believer from the law of sin and death. The law of sin is the one he says dwells in the members, which strives to persuade to adverse things; the law of death is the law of Moses, because it puts sinners to death. For in another letter too he says among other things about the authority of the law: “If the ministry of death, formed in stones, was in glory” (2 Cor 3:7). It is not to be wondered at, then, if the law is called spiritual and a law of death, since the gospel is the same way. For he says in another place among other things: “To some a fragrance of life unto life, to others a fragrance of death unto death” (2 Cor 2:16). For to those whom the report of mighty works, or the sight or hearing of deeds, drew to faith, the gospel was a fragrance of life; but to those whose mind the power displayed inflamed to contradiction, the preaching of the faith was a fragrance of death. Though faith is one, then, it produces diversity in people; as the sun, though it is one, melts wax but hardens mud. With whatever mind, then, someone has scented the faith, so it will profit him. But perhaps it is said: If faith does the same things as the law, why is it not also in part called a law of death, since it puts unbelievers to death? But it is not so. For faith was given to justify those who flee to it, to forgive those whom the law holds guilty, so that those living under faith may be free from sin; for those living under the law are liable. Those, then, who do not obey faith are not killed by faith but by the law; because not coming to faith they are held guilty by the law; and therefore all who scent the words of faith with an evil mind remain in death. Let us now see what difference there is when it is said “spiritual law” and “law of the spirit.” The difference is this: it is called a spiritual law because it gives precepts by which one does not sin, since one who does not sin is called spiritual, an emulator of things above, that is, heavenly; but it is called the law of the spirit because God, whose faith it is, is spirit. There, then, are words, here the thing; there the things of God, here God himself. (Verse 3.) “For what was impossible for the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin, from sin condemned sin in the flesh.” He says these things to make the baptized secure, because they have been freed from sin. “For what was impossible,” he says, “for the law.” For whom is it impossible? For us, clearly, it was impossible to fulfil the commandment of the law, because we were subject to sin. For this reason God sent his Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin. This is the likeness of flesh: that, though it is the same flesh as ours, yet it was not made in the womb and born as our flesh is. For it was sanctified in the womb and born without sin, and he himself did not sin in it. For this reason a virginal womb was chosen for the Lord’s birth, so that in holiness the Lord’s flesh might differ from our flesh; for it is like in its cause, not in the quality of sin of the substance. He called it like, then, because, being of the same substance of flesh, it did not have the same birth; for the Lord’s body was not subject to sin. For the Lord’s flesh was purified by the Holy Spirit, so that he was born in such a body as Adam’s was before sin; only the sentence given in Adam remained. When God sent Christ, then, “from sin he condemned sin,” that is, he condemned sin by its own sin. For when Christ is crucified by sin, which is Satan, sin sinned in the flesh of the Saviour’s body; and when this was done, God condemned sin in the flesh, there, certainly, where it sinned; as he says in another letter too: “Triumphing over them in him” (Col 2:15), that is, in Christ. For it is usual to say of anyone condemned: In what case was he condemned? The answer is, for example, in a homicide. So too sin was condemned in the flesh, that is, in the sin which it committed in the flesh. Made guilty by this sin, Satan lost the dominion over the souls he held, so that he does not dare to hold in the second death those who are now sealed with the sign of the cross, on which he was conquered. Therefore the apostle treats these things for our security.

“So that the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” He says sin was condemned so that the justification of the law given by Moses might be fulfilled in us; for taken out of the condition of the law, we have become its friends; for the justified are friends of the law. And how is the justification fulfilled in us, except when remission of all sins is given, so that, sins being taken away, he may appear justified, serving the law of God with the mind? This is to walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit: that the devotion of the soul, which is the spirit, should not consent to the desire of sin; because the sin that is in it sows desires in the soul through the flesh. But if sin was condemned by the Saviour, how is it present? It was condemned by the Saviour, and condemned in three ways. In the first place he condemned sin when he did not sin, dissenting from sin. Then sin is said to have been condemned on the cross, because it sinned. Hence there was taken from it the authority, as of sin, by which it held people in the underworld because of the offence of Adam, so that thereafter it does not dare to hold those in whom is the sign of the cross. Third, he condemned sin when he made offences void by granting remission of sins. For when the sinner deserved to be condemned for the sin committed, by pardoning him he condemned the sin in him. And so if we too, by the Saviour’s example, do not sin, we condemn sin.

“For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh.” He says this because one who obeys the suggestion that comes about through the flesh minds the things of the flesh. For what he follows seems sweet to him, desiring against right the use and opinion of the error of the flesh; for in the flesh worldly error in any form is signified. “But those who are according to the spirit perceive the things of the spirit.” It is plain that one who restrains himself from the desires of the flesh lives according to the law of the mind; for it seems useful to him to mind what agrees with the law.

“For the prudence of the flesh is death.” The prudence of the flesh is sin, which begets death. It is called prudence, though it is a foolish thing, because to worldly people errors conceived from visible things, whether in thought or in act, against the law of God, seem prudence; especially since all their industry and cunning is directed to sinning. For they seem to themselves wise if they attend to this more diligently, when nothing is more foolish than to sin. There is also another prudence of the flesh, which, puffed up by worldly reasonings, denies that anything is done that lacks the reason of the world. Hence it mocks the Virgin’s giving birth and the resurrection of the flesh. “But the prudence of the spirit is life and peace.” Truly this is the wisdom that acquires life and peace; for one who follows spiritual things, despising the enticements of the present life, will have eternal life with peace, that is, without disquiet, where there is no disturbance or punishment.

“For the wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be.” He did not call the flesh hostile, but the wisdom of the flesh; that is, not the substance, but either evil acts or thought or assertion born of error. The wisdom of the flesh, then, is in the first place the theory of the stars devised by people, then delight in visible things. These are hostile to God, because they make the Lord of the elements and the Maker of the world equal to the things he made, asserting that nothing can be done except what the reason of the world contains. Therefore they deny that God brought it about that a virgin gave birth or that the bodies of the dead rise; because it is foolish, they say, that God should do things beyond what man understands. O wise men of the world, who think that God ought not to do otherwise than the creation founded by him does, so that he himself is thought like creatures! They are so blinded that they do not see what insult they do to God. For the work which he deigned to do for the proclaiming of his praise they disparage, asserting it to be incredible and foolish; and therefore this prudence of the flesh cannot be subject to the law of God; for they sharpen their zeal for this, to fight against the deeds of God.

“For those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The wise of the world are in the flesh, because they study the wisdom of the world, by which they fight against the law of God. For whatever is against the law of God is carnal, because it is of the world; for the whole world is flesh: for everything visible is assigned to the flesh; for these things are akin to the flesh, or rather the elements of the flesh. And therefore one who obeys worldly things is in the flesh. “But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit.” Placed in the flesh, they are said not to be in the flesh if, agreeing with the apostle John, they do not love worldly things; for a person’s opinion as it were fashions his nature, so that he is called what he thinks. “If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” He says this ambiguously because, having been led into the law, they were not yet of perfect faith; but he saw in them the hope of perfection. Hence he speaks sometimes as to the perfect, sometimes as to those who will be perfected, that is, sometimes he praises, sometimes he admonishes; so that if they live according to the things mentioned above, according to the law of nature, they may be said to be in the spirit; because the Spirit of God cannot dwell in one who follows carnal things. “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.” The one he called above the Spirit of God he now calls the Spirit of Christ, because all things of the Father are the Son’s. He says this, then: that one who is subject to the errors mentioned above does not belong to Christ; for he does not have his Spirit, whom he had received in order to be a son of God. For the Holy Spirit deserts a person for two reasons: when he has either the mind or the deeds of the flesh. And so by these admonitions he exhorts to good conduct; for though people are raised up by the goodness of God, those called sons of God are nevertheless burdened unless they so live as not to seem unworthy of the name granted them.

“The body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of justification.” He asserts that the body of those whom the Holy Spirit deserts is dead because of sin, and that the suffering of their death does not reach this one, that is, the Spirit. For the Spirit of God does not know how to sin; for he is given for justification, to justify by his help. Since, then, he does not know how to sin, he is life; for he cannot die, because death comes through sin; and therefore the sinner will harm himself, not the Spirit whom he received. Nor will the Spirit be at fault, who wishes to justify. For this is the sign of justification in a person, that through him who dwells in him he appears justified as a son of God; for the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in a deceitful person, nor in a body subject to sins, as Solomon says (Wis 1:4–5); but if anyone lives carnally again, deserted by the Holy Spirit, he will die in his unrighteousness. In saying “body” he signifies the whole person as dead because of sin, as the prophet too signifies the whole person under the term “soul,” as the whole by a part; for he says: “The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezek 18:4). Without the body? Here he put body for the whole person, the prophet soul. And another prophet signified the whole person by saying “flesh”; for he says: “All flesh will see the salvation of God” (Isa 40:5). And since the Holy Spirit is given to the baptized, he is also called his spirit. Therefore he called the rest of the person, in comparison with him, body, because the soul, when it sins, is called flesh; for it is called by what it follows, as I have often said already. In like manner the Lord too, when in his passion he wished it to be understood that his divinity was not at all afraid, but that the sorrow was the man’s, said: “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak” (Matt 26:41); so as to signify God in the spirit and man in the flesh.

“But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit dwelling in you.” He treats the same sense by the same reasoning; for he said “bodies,” by which he signifies people. And since above he said that the body dies the second death because of sin, here again he promised that mortal bodies, that is, the whole person, will be given life because of a good life.

“So, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.” It is right and plain that we ought not to comply with the invention of Adam, who acted carnally and, sinning first, left us death as an inheritance; but that we ought to serve the law of Christ, who redeemed us by a spiritual means from the death mentioned above. For we are debtors to him who justified us, defiled with carnal vices, by washing us in the bath of the Spirit, and made us sons of God. For formerly, placed in the flesh, we lived by Adam’s example, subject to sins; but now, freed, we ought to render obedience to the Redeemer. This obedience certainly does not profit him, who needs nothing; but it acquires eternal life for us; for he so loves us that he counts as done to himself what profits us.

“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.” Nothing is truer: if we live according to Adam, we shall die; for Adam, transgressing, sold himself to sin, being assigned to the flesh. For every sin is flesh; for since vices and offences are born from outside through the senses, that is, from hearing, sight, touch, smell or taste, they are assigned to the flesh. For every thought that looks outward runs into offence; for the sin of the first man too was born from outside. To live according to the flesh, then, is death; for every act of the flesh is outside the law. “But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.” He wants the body to be governed by the law of the soul; hence he shows that if, with the Holy Spirit as guide, the acts and counsels of the flesh, which are contrived at the instigation of the powers of this world, are repressed so that they do not receive the power to act, the result is an illustrious life. For they are said to be put to death if they cease: for they do not exist if they cease, because sin does not exist if it is not done.

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” He says that those are led by the Spirit of God in whose acts the counsels of the principalities and powers of this world are not seen; for those in whom they are seen are not sons of God but of the devil; because “whoever is born of God does not sin,” says the apostle John (1 John 3:9). For this is what proves the sons of God and of the devil. Hence the Lord said to the Jews, because they did evil and planned murder: “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44).

“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again in fear.” He says this because, having received the Holy Spirit, we have been stripped of fear of evil acts, so that thereafter we may do nothing of the kind which would make us fear again. For before we were under fear, because, when the law was given, all were established as guilty. He called the law, then, the spirit of fear, because it established people in fear on account of sin. But the law of faith, which is signified by the spirit of adoption, is the law of security; because it rescues us from fear when it forgives sins, and so has made us secure; and in this way it is called a spirit not of fear. “But you received the Spirit of adoption of sons, in whom we cry: Abba, Father.” Freed from fear by the grace of God, we have received the spirit of adoption of sons; so that, considering what we were and what we have obtained by the gift of God, we may order our life with great diligence, lest the name of God the Father suffer injury in us, and we, as ingrates, incur all the things we escaped. For we have obtained such grace that we dare to say to God: Abba, that is, Father! And therefore he warns lest the confidence received be turned into rashness; for if we show a life unlike this word by which we say, “Abba, Father,” we do injury to God when we call him Father. For he granted us this in his goodness, which is above our nature, so that what we are unworthy of by substance we may deserve by works.

“The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are sons of God.” When we act well, and by this the Holy Spirit remains in us, the Spirit of God gives testimony to this word and to our mind, by which we cry in prayer, “Abba,” that is, Father, while he remains in us, that we do not say “Abba, Father” rashly. For let us show a life worthy of this word; and this is the testimony of sons, if the Father’s sign is seen in them through the Spirit.

“But if sons, also heirs: heirs of God, and co-heirs of Christ.” Since God the Father can in no way be said to have died, while Christ his Son is said to have died because of the incarnation, how is it that one who died is said to be heir of one who ever lives, when there are heirs only of the dead? But this concerns humanity, not divinity. For with God what among us is called an inheritance is the gift of the Father passed on to obedient sons; so that the living is heir of the living by his own merit, not by the necessity of one who has died. Hence the Lord too in the Gospel, by a divine rather than a human reckoning, signified, though in a parable, that a living father divided his substance among the living (Luke 15:12–13); for a parable is not composed with absurd reasoning. To make us ready to obey God the Father, then, he exhorts us with this hope, saying that we will be heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ; so that, since the hope of reward is great, we may be the more inclined to the things of God, putting aside care for worldly things. What it is to be co-heir of the Son of God we are taught by the apostle John; for he says among other things: “We know that when he appears we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). “If indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him.” He declares how we can become co-heirs of Christ, saying: “If indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him.” Let us see, then, what it is to suffer with him. To suffer with him is to endure persecutions for the hope of things to come, and to crucify the flesh with its vices and desires, that is, to spurn the pleasures and pomps of the world. For when all these have died in a person, he crucifies the world, believing in the life of the age to come, in which he hopes to be co-heir of Christ.

“I reckon, then, that the sufferings of this time are not worthy of the future glory which will be revealed in us.” This exhortation belongs to what precedes; by it he shows that the things the faithless can inflict here are small in comparison with the reward decreed in the age to come. For this reason he bids that we ought to be ready for every destruction, because great rewards have been promised for them; so that in tribulation the mind may console itself and grow in hope. For we know that some, indeed many, for present gains, which will profit only for a little while, undergo labours so harsh and hard, and sometimes cannot reach what they aim at, because life itself is frail and uncertain. For what profits do sailors entrust themselves to such great gales and storms, though they know that in them death is before their eyes rather than life? And soldiers, in hope of a present reward, though victory is uncertain, do not hesitate to rush on swords. How much more, then, must one suffer for Christ, whose benefits have even been held out to us, who promises magnificent rewards for small things, heavenly for earthly, and everlasting with glory for temporal! We are said to suffer for Christ, though what we suffer profits not him but us; but because he seeks an occasion of rewarding us, he commands this; for as a good or lavish giver he seeks a reason to give to the unworthy or the bashful. Indeed, so that the destructions themselves can be endured, he himself supplies strength.

“For the expectation of the creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God.” Since he said that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy of the glory to come, he added that the creation awaits this: that the number of the sons of God destined for life may be completed; so that then at last the creation itself too may be freed from the slavery of corruption and cease from fault.

“For the creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly.” Placed in the power of its Lord and Creator, the creation was certainly not subjected to vanity of its own accord; for that it was subjected will profit not itself but us. In what, then, was it subjected to vanity, if not that the things it produces are perishable? For it works to produce corruptible fruits: corruption, then, is itself vanity; for all things born in the world are weak, perishable and corruptible, and therefore vain. For they are vain because they cannot keep their state; for all things, broken down by flux, always return, mingled, into their nature. Solomon too says this of them, that all these things are vanity (Eccl 1:2). Nor does David disagree with this, saying: “Nevertheless every living man is vanity” (Ps 39:5). For to eat and drink and care for the things of the world, is it not vanity? And yet this very vanity is profitable; for it profits people born into the world, so that, exercised through these things in their bodies, they may learn the mystery of the Creator. For in comparison with eternal things they are vain; for in themselves they are good, since they are necessary.

“But because of him who subjected it in hope.” What the hope is he added at once, saying: “Because the creation itself too will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.” Since the creation cannot contradict its Maker, it was subjected for his sake, not without hope. For, placed in labour, it has this consolation, that it will have rest when all have believed whom God knows will believe; for whose sake too he subjected it.

“For we know that the whole creation groans and is in labour until now.” To be in labour is to be in pain. The sense is that the whole creation groans through daily labour and is in pain until now. “Until now” signifies for as long as this is read. For the elements themselves perform their works with anxiety; for the sun and moon do not fulfil the courses set for them without labour, and the spirit of animals is constrained with great groaning to perform services; for we see them groaning, forced unwillingly to labour. All these, then, await rest, to be freed from servile work. But if this were a servitude that served to win the favour of God, the creation would rejoice, not grieve; but because it has been subjected to the slavery of corruption for our sake, it grieves. For it sees its works perish daily; for daily its work rises and falls. Rightly, then, does it grieve, whose working pertains not to eternity but to corruption. As far, then, as we are given to understand, they are quite anxious about our salvation, knowing that it serves their liberation sooner if only we acknowledge the Author more quickly. Knowing these things, then, let us show ourselves worthy with all care and diligence, so as to be an example to others also, moved not only by pity for ourselves but also for the sake of the creation which, suffering injuries day and night, groans; for we are accustomed to keep watch more readily in the causes of others.

“And not only it, but we too, who have the receptacle of the Spirit, we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting the redemption of our body.” After the worldly creation he added that we too await this and groan to God, that all destined for life may be freed from here; because this world is a sea for Christians. For as the sea is stirred by contrary gales, leaps up, and makes a storm for those who sail, so the world, moved by the conspiracy of the faithless, disturbs the minds of the faithful; and the enemy does this with such variety that it is not known what is to be avoided first. For if the authorities cease to be against us, he stirs up the minds of private persons; if these too are restrained, he kindles a fire through members of the household; and if this is laid to rest, by his art he makes discord among brothers themselves, so that the house, beaten at its four corners, may collapse in some part. For this reason Christians ought with one resolve to flee from here; for they ought to follow the example of holy Simeon, who, knowing that war is waged here against faithlessness, asked to be dismissed in peace (Luke 2:29). This is why each of us, praying for all, prays that the kingdom of God may come (Matt 6:10); for then there will be the liberation of our body, that is, of all Christians: for by “body” he signified all, since we are members of one another. The apostle indeed, as a man of God, thinks well of us, saying that we groan to be freed from here, as Simeon too groaned; but I see that we are held by the delight of the world. Through what has been said above, then, he shows what violence the creation suffers for our sake; since even we, whom its service profits and who have the Spirit of God as helper, groan to be freed from here, so as to obtain the promised rewards. How much more, then, does the creation groan, which neither has the Holy Spirit as helper nor labours in its own cause; and in addition it sees the things it produces by its labour, to serve as food for the servants of God, sacrificed against right to idols! Hence it grieves the more, and wishes to be freed sooner, knowing that this serves to the injury of the Creator.

“For we have been saved by hope.” He says this because by hoping for what God promised in Christ we have made merit for ourselves, so as to be freed. We have been freed, then, in hope; because what is to come is nothing other than what we believe. “But hope that is seen is not hope.” It is plain that what is seen is not hope, but what is not seen; and therefore believers are to be rewarded, because they hope for what they do not see.

“For what someone sees, why does he hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it through patience.” There is no doubt that things that are not seen are hoped for; for future things are awaited. This waiting is patience, which merits much from God; so that, waiting from day to day, one may desire the kingdom of God to come, and not doubt because it delays.