Thomas Aquinas

After the Apostle has shown that through the grace of Christ we are freed from past sin — both the sin introduced through the first man, and that which abounded through the law — here he shows that through the grace of Christ the power to resist future sins is given to us. And concerning this he does two things. First, he raises a question arising from what has gone before; second, he resolves it, at the place, "God forbid. For if," and so on.

Now he had said above that where sin abounded, grace abounded still more; which someone could indeed wrongly understand, as though the abundance of sin were the cause of the superabundance of graces. And therefore he introduces the question, saying: "What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" Which indeed it would be necessary to say, if the abundance of sin were the cause of abounding grace, and not merely the occasion, as was said above. Whence also above, in Romans 3:8, the Apostle says: "as we are slandered, and as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil, that good may come." Jeremiah 12:1: "It is well with all that transgress and do wickedly."

Then, when he says, "God forbid," etc., he resolves the question raised. And first he assigns the reason why we ought not to remain under sin; second, he draws the intended exhortation, at the place, "Let not sin therefore reign," and so on. Concerning the first he does two things. First he assigns the reason why one should not remain in sin; second he shows that we possess the capacity for this, that we should not remain under sin, at the place, "Knowing this," and so on. Concerning the first he sets forth this reasoning: if we are dead to sin, we ought not to live in it; but we are dead to sin; therefore we ought not to live in sin. Concerning this, then, he does four things. First he sets forth the conditional; second he proves the antecedent, at the place, "Know you not," etc.; third he draws the consequent, at the place, "that as Christ," etc.; fourth he proves the necessity of the inference, at the place, "For if we have been planted together," and so on.

He says therefore first, "God forbid" — namely, that with this intention one should remain in sin, that grace may abound — because, as is said in Ecclesiasticus 15:21, "God hath commanded no man to do wickedly." And the reason for this is: for if we are dead to sin — namely, by this, that sin has been put to death in us — how shall we still live in it? For the natural order of things does not allow that one should return from death to life. Isaiah 24:14: "they that die shall not live," and so on. Canticle 5:3: "I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?"

Then, when he says, "Know you not," etc., he proves the antecedent, namely, that the faithful are dead to sin. And first he proposes the middle term to show his proposition; second he makes clear the middle term he has introduced, at the place, "For we are buried together with him," and so on. He says therefore first, "Know you not," as if to say: what is to be proposed to you is so manifest that it is not permitted for you to be ignorant of it — 1 Corinthians 14:38: "if any man know not, he shall not be known" — "that all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus": which is understood in three ways. In one way, according to the institution of Jesus Christ, Matthew, last chapter: "teach ye all nations, baptizing them," and so on. Second, through the invocation of Jesus Christ, Acts 8:12: "men and women were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." Third, in Christ Jesus, that is, in a certain conformity to Christ Jesus — Galatians 3:27: "as many of you as have been baptized in Christ Jesus have put on Christ."

Thus, then, we are configured to his death, into the likeness of his death, as it were representing the very death of Christ in ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:10: "always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus." Galatians, last chapter: "I bear the marks of Jesus in my body." Or, "in his death," that is, through the power of his death. Apocalypse 1:5: "he hath washed us from our sins." Whence from the side of Christ hanging on the cross, after death, there flowed blood and water, as is said in John 19:34. Just as, therefore, we are configured to his death, insofar as we die to sin, so he himself died to mortal life, in which there was a likeness of sin, although sin itself was not there. Therefore all of us who have been baptized are dead to sin.

Then, when he says, "For we are buried together," etc., he proves the middle term he had proposed, namely, that we are all baptized in conformity to the death of Christ, saying: "For we are buried together with him by baptism into death." As if to say: burial is owed only to the dead. Matthew 8:22: "let the dead bury their dead." Now through baptism men are buried with Christ, that is, they are conformed to his burial. For just as one who is buried is placed beneath the earth, so one who is baptized is immersed beneath the water. Whence also in baptism a threefold immersion is made, not only on account of faith in the Trinity, but also to represent the three days of Christ's burial. And just as the three days of burial make only one burial, so the threefold immersion makes only one baptism. And from this it is also the case that on Holy Saturday solemn baptism is celebrated in the Church, when the burial of Christ is commemorated, just as also on the vigil of Pentecost, when solemnity is kept for the Holy Spirit, from whose power the water of baptism receives its cleansing force, as is said in John 3:5: "unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit," and so on.

It must be considered, however, that bodily someone first dies and afterward is buried; but spiritually the burial of baptism causes the death of sin, because a sacrament of the new law effects what it signifies. Whence, since the burial that is effected through baptism is a sign of the death of sin, it effects death in the one baptized. And this is what he says, that we are "buried into death," so that by this very fact, that we receive in ourselves the sign of the burial of Christ, we obtain the death of sin.

Then, when he says, "that as Christ," he infers the consequent, namely, that we ought not to live in sin. For this indeed he introduces a likeness drawn from the resurrection of Christ, saying, "that as Christ rose from the dead by the glory of the Father" — that is, by the power of the Father, from which the Father himself is glorified, according to that word of Psalm 56:8: "arise, my glory" — "so we also may walk in newness of life," that is, that we may proceed by the good works of life. For the life of sin has oldness, because it leads us into corruption. Hebrews 8:13: "that which decayeth and groweth old is near its end." Whence also it is said in Baruch 3:10: "How happeneth it, that thou art in thy enemies' land, thou art grown old in a strange country?" and so on. Whence also it is called newness of life, by which someone returns to integrity, namely, so as to be without sin. Psalm 102:5: "thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's." Ephesians 4:23: "be renewed in the spirit of your mind."

Then, when he says, "For if," he proves the necessity of the inference. For Christ, after he was dead, rose again; whence it is fitting that those who are conformed to Christ as to his death in baptism should also be conformed to his resurrection through innocence of life. And this is what he says: "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death" — that is, if we take up in ourselves the likeness of his death, so that we are incorporated into him as a branch that is grafted onto a plant, so that we are, as it were, grafted into the very passion of Christ — "we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection," namely, planted together with the likeness of it, so that, that is, in the present we may live innocently, and in the future we may arrive at a like glory. Philippians 3:21: "he will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory." 2 Timothy 2:11: "if we be dead with him, we shall live also with him."

Thus, therefore, just as the Apostle, through the likeness of the death of Christ, proved that we are dead to sin — which he had set forth beforehand as it were the antecedent — so, through the likeness of his resurrection, he proved that we ought not to live in sin; which he had introduced above as it were the consequent.