Interpretation of the Letter to the Romans
The whole work on one page. Select a passage number to open that passage with its notes, Scripture references, and citation.
Chapter 7
7.1PG 82:117
Ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε, ἀδελφοὶ (γινώσκουσι γὰρ νόμον λαλῶ), ὅτι ὁ νόμος κυριεύει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐρ᾽ ὅσον χρόνον ζῇ; ᾿Αχριδῶς ἴστε, φησὶ, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐντεθραμμένοι τῷ νόμῳ, ὡς τῶν ἔτι περιόντων ὁ νόμος χρατεῖ. Εἰσφέρει δὲ καὶ παράδειγμα τῷ προχειμένῳ χατάλληλον, καί φησιν"
Ē agnoeite, adelphoi (ginōskousi gar nomon lalō), hoti ho nomos kyrieuei tou anthrōpou, er᾽ hoson chronon zę̄? ᾿Achridōs iste, phēsi, kai hymeis entethrammenoi tǭ nomǭ, hōs tōn eti periontōn ho nomos chratei. Eispherei de kai paradeigma tǭ procheimenǭ chatallēlon, kai phēsin"
“Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a person as long as he lives?” You know well, he says, you who were brought up in the law, that the law rules those who are still alive. And he brings in an example fitting the matter at hand, and says:
7.2PG 82:117
Ἡ γὰρ ὕπανδρος γυνὴ τῷ ζῶντι ἀνδρὶ δέδεται νόμῳ" ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ, κατήργηται ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ἀνδρός. Εἶτα τοῦτο διδάσχει
Hē gar hypandros gynē tǭ zōnti andri dedetai nomǭ" ean de apothanę̄ ho anēr, katērgētai apo tou nomou tou andros. Eita touto didaschei
“For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives; but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband.” Then he teaches this:
7.3PG 82:117
Ἄρα οὖν ζῶντος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς μοιχαλὶς χρηματίζει, ἐὰν γένηται ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ « ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ, ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, τοῦ μὴ εἶναι αὐτὴν μοιχαλίδα, γενομένην ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ. Μοιχεύτριαν καλεῖ, φησὶν, ὁ νόμος, οὐ τὴν μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ὁμόζυγος τελευτὴν συναπτομένην ἑτέρῳ, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἔτι περιόντος τοῦ συνοιχοῦντος εἰ εἰς τὸν νόμον τοῦ γάμου, τιμωρεῖσθα: χελεύει. Εὔὅηλον τοίνυν ὡς, τοῦ ἀνδρὸς δεξαμένου τοῦ βίου τὸ πέρας, ἔννομον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ παράνομον, τὸ ἑτέρῳ γήμασθαι τὴν χηρεύουσαν. Καὶ ἥδει μὲν ὁ θεῖος ᾿Απόστόλος ὡς ἄδειαν καὶ τοῖς ζῶσιν ὁ νόμος ἐδεδώχει διαζευγνύναι τὸν γάμον, ὅταν οὐ χαταθύμιος ἧ. ᾿Αλλὰ τῆς Δεσποτιχῆς διδασχαλίας ἐπήχουσεν, ἢ. τὸν Μωῦσέα πρὸς τὴν Ἰουδαίων σκληροκαρδίαν τοῦτὸν ἔφη δεδωαχέναι τὸν νόμον, τὸν δὲ τῆς φύσεως νόμον οὐ ταῦτα προστεθειχέναι "", Ἕνα γὰρ ἄνδρα, "φησὶ, καὶ μίαν γυναῖχα ἐδημιούργησεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ διαπλάσει τὸν περὶ τοῦ γάμου νόμον τιθείς. Διά τοι τοῦτο ἐχεῖνο χαταλιπὼν, ἐπὶ τὸν περὶ τῶν τετελευτηχότων ἐλήλυθε νόμον, καὶ ἐπήγαγεν"
Ara oun zōntos tou andros moichalis chrēmatizei, ean genētai andri heterǭ « ean de apothanę̄ ho anēr, eleuthera estin apo tou nomou, tou mē einai autēn moichalida, genomenēn andri heterǭ. Moicheutrian kalei, phēsin, ho nomos, ou tēn meta tēn tou homozygos teleutēn synaptomenēn heterǭ, alla tēn eti periontos tou synoichountos ei eis ton nomon tou gamou, timōreistha: cheleuei. Euoēlon toinyn hōs, tou andros dexamenou tou biou to peras, ennomon, all᾽ ou paranomon, to heterǭ gēmasthai tēn chēreuousan. Kai hēdei men ho theios ᾿Apostolos hōs adeian kai tois zōsin ho nomos ededōchei diazeugnynai ton gamon, hotan ou chatathymios hē. ᾿Alla tēs Despotichēs didaschalias epēchousen, ē. ton Mōysea pros tēn Ioudaiōn sklērokardian touton ephē dedōachenai ton nomon, ton de tēs physeōs nomon ou tauta prostetheichenai "", Hena gar andra, "phēsi, kai mian gynaicha edēmiourgēsen ho Theos, en autę̄ tę̄ diaplasei ton peri tou gamou nomon titheis. Dia toi touto echeino chatalipōn, epi ton peri tōn teteleutēchotōn elēlythe nomon, kai epēgagen"
“So then, if she becomes another man's while her husband lives, she will be called an adulteress; but if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she becomes another man's.” The law, he says, calls an adulteress not the woman who is joined to another after the death of her spouse, but the one who … while her partner is still living, and it commands that she be punished according to the law of marriage. It is clear, then, that when the husband has reached the end of life, it is lawful, not unlawful, for the widow to marry another. And the divine Apostle knew that the law had given permission even to the living to dissolve a marriage when it was not to their liking. But he had heard the Master's teaching, which said that Moses had given this law in view of the hardness of heart of the Jews, but that the law of nature had not laid this down: “For God,” he says, “created one man and one woman,” setting down the law about marriage in the very act of fashioning. For this reason, leaving that aside, he came to the law about the dead, and added: