Thomas Aquinas, on Rom 8:7

“Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be.”

“In the preceding section, the Apostle had presupposed that the prudence of the flesh is death, and here he intends to prove this. And first, he proves it; second, he shows that the believers to whom he writes are immune to such prudence, at "but you are not." In regard to the first he does two things. First, he proves his statement about prudence of the flesh in the abstract; second, he applies what he had said about prudence of the flesh to those who follow prudence of the flesh, at "and they who are in the flesh." In regard to the first he sets out three middle terms, each of which proves the one before it. Using the first middle, he proves something stated earlier, namely, that the prudence of the flesh is death, in the following way: he that is hostile to God incurs death: "but as for those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me" (Luke 19:27); and this is because God is our life: "for he is your life" (Deut 30:20). And so, he that is hostile to God incurs death; but the prudence of the flesh is hostile to God. Therefore, the prudence of the flesh is the cause of death. Here it should be noted that what he earlier called the prudence of the flesh (Rom 8:6) he now calls the wisdom of the flesh, not because prudence and wisdom are absolutely the same but because wisdom in human matters is prudence: "wisdom is prudence to a man" (Prov 10:23). To understand this it should be recognized that one who knows the highest cause on which all things depend is called wise in the strict sense. But the supreme cause absolutely of all things is God. Therefore, wisdom in the strict sense is knowledge of divine things, as Augustine says in On the Trinity; "yet among the mature we do impart wisdom" (1 Cor 2:6). Now one who knows the highest cause in a particular genus is said to be wise in that genus. For example, in the art of building it is not the man who knows how to cut wood and stones but the one who conceives and plans the house who is called wise; for the entire building depends on him. Hence the Apostle says, "as a wise architect I have laid the foundation" (1 Cor 3:10). Thus, therefore, one is called wise in human matters who has a good understanding about the goal of human life and regulates the whole of human life accordingly, which pertains to prudence. And thus the wisdom of the flesh is the same as the prudence of the flesh, about which it is said: "not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish" (Jas 3:15). This wisdom is said to be hostile to God, because it inclines a man against God's law: "running stubbornly against him with a thick-bossed shield" (Job 15:26). To prove this he uses another middle term, adding, "it is not subject to the law of God." For a person cannot hate God according to what he is in himself, since God is the very essence of goodness; but a sinner hates God inasmuch as some precept of the divine law is contrary to his will, as an adulterer hates God inasmuch as he hates the precept, "you shall not commit adultery." And so all sinners, inasmuch as they are unwilling to submit to God's law, are hostile to God: "should you love those who hate the Lord?" (2 Chr 19:2). Hence, he has satisfactorily proved that the prudence or wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God, because it is not subject to the law of God. He proves this through a third middle term, saying: "nor can it be." For the prudence of the flesh is a form of vice, as is clear from what has been said. But although a person subject to a vice can be freed from it and submit to God, as it says above, "having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of justice" (Rom 6:18), the vice itself cannot submit to God, since the vice itself is a turning away from God or from God's law; just as something black can become white, but the blackness itself can never become white: "an evil tree cannot bear good fruit" (Matt 7:18). From this it is clear that the Manicheans were not correct in using these words to support their error, for they wished by these words to show that the nature of the flesh is not from God, since it is hostile to God and cannot be subject to God. For the Apostle is not dealing here with the flesh, which is a creature of God, but of the prudence of the flesh, which is a human vice, as has been said.”

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