Pelagius

“But someone will ask, "Why do we see that the good die along with the bad?" The former do not perish but escape, because they are freed from commerce with the wicked and from persecution, and they are brought to rest. The others die and truly perish, because what awaits them when they depart from this world is the torment and punishment of a terrible judgment. The good are called before their time, so that the perverse will torment them no more. The wicked and godless are taken away so that they would no longer persecute the good. The righteous are called from difficulties, tribulations and anguish into rest. The godless are dragged from luxury, abundance and pleasures to punishment. The former go to judge, the latter to be judged. The former, to receive their due, the latter to receive their punishment, as it is written, "The righteous, even if he dies prematurely, will find rest." And also, "Because he lived among sinners, he was taken away." And also, "His soul was pleasing to the Lord. Therefore God took him quickly from the wickedness around him." And still, "They go to death together with the godless, but they are in peace." You see therefore that this disintegration of the body is rest, not punishment, for the righteous and for those who worship God. In decay, rather than perishing, they are freed. Thus the faithful do not fear decay, nor are they overawed by it, but they desire and long for its coming. They understand that through it they will arrive at rest, not punishment. The perverse, the godless and those who are conscious of their crimes rightly fear decay, because of a natural disposition by which they cannot fail to judge themselves. Consequently, having received and understood this explanation, we must not sin at all, especially because we are not unaware that there is a judgment of sinners in this world, which remains in the future one.”

“Their just God, teacher of mercy and compassion—who would later bestow the Law (by which he would give his people the precepts that would enable them to act with mercy and compassion and to do good works)—wanted them to first suffer every kind of affliction, tribulation and anguish in a foreign land. This was so they would more easily pity those who suffer these same things and so respect his commandments. Imagine a wise farmer who, before sowing the seed, takes time to soften the land with plow and rake, so that the seed that he entrusts to it will not be lost. Likewise God soaks and softens his people for a long time before bestowing on them the salutary seeds of the commandments. Finally, so that it would be even more evident that this was why he inflicted these things on his people, we see that the Lord says in his commandments, "Do not molest or oppress the alien, because you were aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt." We also read, "The great God, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes, who renders justice to the alien, the orphan and the widow. Delight in giving them bread and clothing, because you were like them in the land of Egypt." And elsewhere it says, "When harvesting your fields, if you miss a sheaf, do not go back to get it. It will be for the alien, the orphan and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands. You will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this." It is easy, then, to recognize that this is why he afflicted his people with every kind of misery, so that from what happened to them they would learn to be merciful toward others, as it is written, "In this way you taught your people that the righteous must love." In my opinion, it is very clear how God wants his people to be and how he shows, with many examples, the works by which they can gain his kindness.”

“Do we wonder why he writes Paul, given that he was called Saul before? Doubtless he did this following the habit of the saints. When they advanced in virtue they were addressed with a different name, so that they might be new people even in name, e.g., Abraham, Sarah and Cephas. … Paul earned the office of an apostle by faithful and matchless service. He was set apart in Acts 13:2. Gospel … means "good news", i.e., of Christ's birth, suffering, resurrection and ascension into heaven.”

“Paul preaches no other Christ than the Christ whose gospel the prophets promised would go forth from Jerusalem. He declares that they are prophets of God and that the Scriptures which prophesied about Christ are holy. This entire passage contradicts the Manichaeans, for it says that the gospel was promised beforehand through God's prophets and in the Holy Scriptures and that according to the flesh Christ came from the lineage of David, i.e., from the Virgin Mary, just as Isaiah had foretold.”

“Many are sons by grace, but Christ is a son by nature.… By adding "according to the flesh" Paul has countered both Photinus and Arius. For if it is true that Christ was made according to the flesh, he most certainly was not made according to the substance of the Word.”

“Christ was predestined as to the spirit of sanctification, so that because of his incorruptibility he might rise again before anyone else and open the way of resurrection for the children of God.… The nature of the resurrection (not of all who rise from the dead but of those who belong to Christ) is prefigured by Christ.”

“Paul received grace in baptism and apostleship when he was sent by the Holy Spirit, for apostle means "sent" in Greek. The purpose of this was that the Gentiles might submit not to the law but to faith.”

“Paul is called to be an apostle to all believers, whom God loves impartially, without showing any preference for Jew or Greek. They are saints because of God's calling, not because of their own holiness. Paul's greeting is designed to recall God's benefits and to pray that they may remain perfect in us, because our sins have been freely forgiven.… Paul also insists that Jews and Gentiles live in peace, since both of them have received the same grace.”

“God is the God of all by nature but of some only by their own choice and response.… Paul calls God his in this second sense. He thanks God for them all, not just for the Jews, and praises them prudently, in order to encourage them to improve. Perhaps he did this because the whole world stood amazed that the idolatrous Romans had been converted … but probably he was just praising a faith which was now evident.”

“Paul serves God with his whole heart and with a ready zeal.… He also presents a model of unceasing prayer.”

“Paul does not find the way propitious unless the will of God, who knows all things, has directed him to a place where he might reap some fruit. For example, we read in Acts that, although he wanted to go to one place, he was directed to another.”

“The Romans would have learned of Paul's plans through the brothers who were constantly coming and going. Prevented here means "busy," because he was preaching in other provinces.”

“This is subtly intended to censure the pagans who, although they do not hesitate to believe that their god Jupiter turned himself into irrational animals and inanimate gold all for the sake of his monstrous lust, think that we Christians should be ashamed to believe that our Lord was crucified in the flesh he assumed, in order to save his image.… At the same time Paul is also bearing in mind those heretics who think that the crucifixion is something unworthy of God, not realizing that nothing is more fitting for the Creator than to care for the salvation of his creatures, particularly as he could not suffer any loss to his own nature, which is not subject to corruption. There is no power greater than the one which overcame death and restored to man the life he had lost, even if this seems like weakness to an unbeliever.”

“What can be known about God, i.e., that God exists and that God is just, is plain to their consciences. For every creature knows that it is not God and that it was made by another.”

“God's hidden qualities can be deduced from things which are manifest. For if he made visible things so splendid that some people thought they were gods and tried to maintain that they were eternal, how much more were these people capable of understanding that the one who made these things is everlasting, almighty and boundless?”

“Imagining that they could grasp God with their minds, they fell away from their natural instinct and worshiped creatures instead of the Creator.”

“They thought they were wise because they had "discovered" how the invisible God can be honored by means of a visible idol!”

“They did not understand that there is no similarity between the mortal and the immortal, the corruptible and the eternal.… Here Paul addresses the worshipers of Jupiter, who maintain that he was transformed into the likeness of animals and therefore dedicate to him images of the kind in which he satisfied his sexual desire.”

“Because of the reasons given above, they were abandoned to their disgraceful behavior. Those who turned against God turned everything on its head. For those who forsook the author of nature could not keep to the order of nature.”

“Once lust is unbridled, it knows no limit. In the order of nature, those who forgot God did not understand themselves either.”

“Not only did they not know God, they did not want to know him.… So they were given over to a base mind.”

“Paul shows that wickedness and evil are the chief causes of the vices. Envy is rightly linked to murder, since it is the chief cause of this crime. Strife exists when something is defended, not by reason but by a proud spirit. Deceit is secret malice covered in flattering speech. Malignity is a wish or a work of malice.”

“The Scriptures link slander to idolatry by stipulating the same penalty for it—destruction. The haughty are those who want to be more than they are. The devil was like this, and so destroyed himself. For one who seeks to lord it over others will end up beneath them.”

“Paul mentions all these sins, set out one by one, with respect to those who have been abandoned by God because they have abandoned him. Let us therefore take care, lest we also be abandoned for embracing one of these evils.”

“Even people who did not agree with these doings … nevertheless seem to have accepted them, because they agreed to idolatry, which is the source and cause of them all.”

“This concerns those who are in a position to pass judgment. Judges and princes are being put on trial. By a natural process everyone pronounces a sentence which fits the crime and knows that righteousness deserves reward while wickedness should be punished.”

“If you, a sinner, pass judgment upon a sinner like yourself, how much more will God, who is just, condemn you as unjust? If he did not do so, it might appear that evil is pleasing to him while good is not. But God has no favorites, and he spared neither his friends (the patriarchs) nor his angels when they sinned! Human judgment on the other hand is imperfect in many ways. The integrity of judges is often compromised by love, hate, fear and greed, and occasionally mercy is allowed to overturn the rule of justice.”

“Do you imagine you can act with impunity just because God does not punish immediately.… Listen to the words of Scripture: "The Lord is not slow with his promises … but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance." The Lord is good in as much as he waits and just in as much as he punishes.… People may go far astray because of God's patience, because he does not want to punish sinners immediately. And because he delays, people suppose either that he does not care at all about human affairs or that he overlooks sins.”

“Unaware that you are sick, you use the very cure in order to sustain even greater wounds.… Rejected kindness leads in the end to severer judgment, so that the man who refused to be touched by mercy is afflicted with punishment.”

“The reward for well-doing is awaited with patience because it is not given in this life. The glory is that with which the saints will shine like the sun. Nothing is greater than the honor of the children of God, on account of which they will judge even the angels.”

“The apostle threatens the soul with punishment because of heretics who say that only the flesh does wrong and that the soul cannot sin. Or perhaps "soul" refers to the whole man.”

“Glory is opposed to wrath and honor to displeasure. What Paul called "immortality" above he calls "peace" here. The word first is emphatic and means "indeed," because God does not play favorites. Or it may mean first in time but not in honor.”

“"Will perish" means the same thing as "will be judged," for the man who perishes perishes by God's judgment, and the man who is judged a sinner perishes. Paul puts Jews and Gentiles on the same level when he says that doers rather than hearers of the law are righteous and then adds that the Gentiles will be judged on the day of the Lord. For does anyone doubt that those under the law will perish just as those who lived without the law, unless they have believed in Christ?”

“Paul is referring either to those who were righteous before the law or to those who even now are doing some good. He shows that the Gentiles are not without any kind of law in order to leave them with no excuse and to take away the glory which the Jews had by their possession of the law.”

“Nature produces a law in their hearts through the witness of their conscience. Or it may mean that the conscience testifies to the fact that it has its own law, because even if the sinner is afraid of no one the conscience is worried when he sins and rejoices when that sin is overcome.”

“Paul says that there is a mental debate when we decide after long deliberation what we should and should not do. On the day of the Lord we shall be judged by this. This proves that we were not ignorant of good and evil. Or perhaps it means that on the day of judgment our conscience and our thoughts will appear before our eyes like history lessons to be learned; they will either accuse us or excuse us.”

“At this point Paul turns to the Jews and says that a man should be a Jew in deed and not merely in name.”

“The Jew boasts that he alone understands God and knows his will. He approves what is excellent, because what is beneficial by nature is made much more so by the law.”

“The blind are those who have been deprived of the light of knowledge.”

“One who continually keeps the law in view does not stumble.”

“Paul says to the Jew: If you rely on the law, why do you not obey it? If you glory in God, why do you dishonor him? If you know his will, why do you not do it? If you approve what is excellent, why do you go after what is harmful? Why do you not look for the right way, if you are a guide for the blind? Surely if you saw it you would walk in it! If you are a light for others, why do you not cast off the works of darkness? As an instructor of the foolish, why have you abandoned the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom? As a teacher of children, why are you a child in understanding? If you have the standard of knowledge and truth in the law, why do you not follow it yourself, nor by your evil example allow others to follow it? Why does your life not match your teaching, and why does your behavior make a mockery of your faith? Because you have not kept the law it will happen that not only will the law do you no good, it will condemn you for the greater crime of holding it in contempt.”

“There is not just one kind of adultery, for you commit adultery if you give anyone other than God what the soul owes exclusively to him.”

“Sacrilege is something committed only against God, because it is a violation of the sacred.”

“Paul realized that what he was saying was also to be found in the prophets, which is why he quotes them here.”

“Circumcision is of value as a sign if righteousness accompanies it; without righteousness the rest is useless. Or this [verse] may mean that circumcision enabled the Jew to live and escape condemnation in childhood before reaching the age of understanding. Or perhaps, because he set it in the context of the law, it is that … when the circumcision of the flesh ends, the true circumcision of the heart will come. A man breaks the law when he does not follow what is foretold in it.”

“The visible needs the invisible but not the other way round, because the visible is an image of the invisible, while the invisible is the reality itself. Thus, the circumcision of the flesh needs the circumcision of the heart but not vice versa, because the reality does not need the image.… If circumcision has no value by itself, why was it instituted? First, in order to distinguish the people of God from among the Gentiles. This is why when they were by themselves in the desert they were not circumcised. Or perhaps so that their bodies might be identified in battle. The reason why they were marked in that part of the body was first so that they would not be disfigured in a part of the body which was open to public view, and second, because the promise of grace would make this part of the body honorable through chastity. Or perhaps it was because it 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.”

“This either means that as long as the Jews continue their literal circumcision they reject the spiritual circumcision, or that they will be judged because they have not followed what the law said, viz., that by believing in Christ they might receive the true circumcision.”

“This is the true Jew, for everything which was previously done externally was but an image of what was meant to happen internally.”

“This is foretold in the law: "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God," and again: "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and remove the foreskin of your heart," not according to the letter of the law but according to the New Testament, which examines the inner secrets which only God can see.”

“The faithfulness meant here is that to the promises made to Abraham, to whom it was said that "in your seed all the nations will be blessed."”

“"Every man" means the majority. Paul's opponents had quoted this text as if David had meant: "For this reason have I sinned, that thou might appear just in judging me." But the true meaning is that God promised to punish sinners without showing favoritism and that some thought his delay in doing so amounted to a lie. God prevails when he judges the deeds of those from whom no one thought vengeance would ever be exacted. Or it may also mean that God has shown that he is concerned about mankind … and that he has overthrown those who wrongly suggest that he is not interested in human affairs.”

“Paul finds no reason for saying that the Jews are better than others.… Both Jews and Gentiles are under sin—something we not only deduce by reason but also corroborate by the witness of the Jews themselves.”

“The psalm from which this quote is taken speaks of the fool. Paul shows that witness to the fool will be fulfilled particularly at the coming of Christ. When he appears, not one righteous person will be found.”

“One who does not understand does not seek. Or perhaps it is that one does not understand because one does not seek. One seeks for God by enquiring after his will.… The sinner has not known the will of his master. "Know me, know my will," as the popular saying goes.”

“The stench of their teaching and flattery contaminates and kills those who listen. This is why a grave is carefully sealed, so that it does not continue to breed disease among the living by its odor. They express one thing with their mouths but another with their hearts. The venom of asps is mentioned because it is supposed to be the most harmful.”

“There is not just one kind of malicious talk. What is said out of malice is without doubt said recklessly.”

“In case the Jews might claim that these verses of the psalm were spoken about the Gentiles, Paul 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 as to who is meant by saying that the fool claims that there is no God. The Jews did not say this in words but in deeds, for they claimed to know God but denied it by their behavior. Paul is not talking to the Gentiles here, because he has already made similar statements about them.”

“By the works of the law Paul means circumcision, the sabbath and the other ceremonies, which had less to do with righteousness than with carnal pleasure. Through the law comes neither forgiveness nor sin itself but rather recognition of sin. Through the law a man realizes what sin is, either because the natural law had been forgotten or because before the written law was given, the lesser sins [i.e., the sins which were more harmful to oneself than others, like lust, drunkenness, etc.] were not recognized as sins.”

“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 been hidden in the law has been revealed with greater clarity by the examples of Christ, which are more obvious. The law and the prophets foretold that this righteousness would come in the last times, or perhaps this means that they both bore witness to the recognition of sin.”

“This refers to the faith by which one believes in Jesus Christ. In this there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile.”

“All sinners need the glory of God because they do not have their own.”

“We have been justified without the works of the law, through baptism. In this way God has freely forgiven our sins even though we are undeserving. Christ has redeemed us with the blood of his death.… For we were all condemned to death, to which Christ handed himself over, though he had no need to, in order to redeem us by his blood.… Note also that Christ did not merely buy us but bought us "back," because we were once his by nature, even though we were separated from him by our sins. If we stop sinning, our redemption will indeed be profitable for us.”

“God has set forth Christ in public so that anyone who wants to be redeemed may draw near to him. Christ performs the work of expiation for all who believe that they need to be set free by his blood. Christ died for our former sins in order to reverse God's judgment, by which he had finally determined to punish us for them.”

“Paul wants to show that God had waited for sinners to reform themselves but that they had abused his patience and gone on to greater sins. The believer in Jesus is the only one who has been found righteous, and God has justified him not by works but by faith.”

“Some people misinterpret this verse in order to do away with the works of righteousness, saying that faith by itself is enough, even though Paul says elsewhere: "If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." If this seems to contradict the sense of the other [verses], what works did the apostle mean when he said that a man is justified by faith, without works? Obviously, these are the works of circumcision, the sabbath and so on, and not the works of righteousness about which St. James says: "Faith without works is dead." [In this verse] Paul is speaking about the man who comes to Christ and is saved when he first believes by faith alone. But by adding the works of the law Paul is saying that there are also works of grace which believers ought to perform.”

“Did God create only the Jews, and is he exclusively concerned with them? For even if the Gentiles sinned, so did the Jews, and even if the Jews repent, so do the Gentiles. If Christ came to the Jews as promised by the law, he came to the Gentiles as well. For the prophets often spoke of the calling of the Gentiles. Paul wants to show the Gentiles that the first saints had not been circumcised and that Abraham was righteous before his circumcision. But he adds "as well," so as not to appear to be excluding the Jews.”

“Jews and Gentiles have both believed in the same God and in the same Christ.”

“Is the law which enjoins us to be circumcised unnecessary? Not at all! On the contrary, we enable it to stand firm when we show that what it said is true, viz., that (spiritual) law would follow after (physical) law, (spiritual) testament after (physical) testament, (spiritual) circumcision after (physical) circumcision.”

“Paul calls the Jews back to the beginning of circumcision, so that what it originally stood for might be fully understood.”

“If Abraham was justified because of his circumcision, then God gave him nothing and he could have gloried in what he did to himself. Or it may mean that if Abraham carried out the ordinances, he had glory in his own eyes but not in God's.”

“Abraham's faith was so great that his earlier sins were all forgiven him, and righteousness was counted as credit for every one of them by faith alone. Later he was on fire with such love for God that he piled one good work on top of another. Therefore he has glory in God's eyes.”

“When an ungodly person is converted, God justifies him by faith alone, not for good works which he does not have. On that basis he would have been punished for his ungodly works. But note that Paul does not say one who remains in sin is justified by faith but rather the ungodly, i.e., one who has just come to believe.”

“It is a great blessing to obtain the Lord's grace without the work of the law and penance, as if one were receiving some public honor without having earned it.”

“What is forgiven is not retained in the mind, and what is covered does not come to light, and for that reason it is not counted against us.”

“Some people say that sin is forgiven in baptism, covered by penitential works and through martyrdom not counted against us. But others say that when sins have been forgiven in baptism, love for God is increased, which covers a multitude of sins and keeps them from being counted against us as long as daily good works surpass past misdeeds.”

“Paul means that the blessing is to be found in each of the three periods of nature, circumcision and Christian faith. Everyone agrees that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. Therefore, what reason discovers about Abraham, we will heed with regard to the rest.”

“Now we must see whether circumcision is born of righteousness or righteousness of circumcision. It must be the former, because Abraham was righteous before he was circumcised.”

“In case anyone says that Abraham was circumcised unnecessarily, Paul argues that it is the sign or seal of an existing righteousness, not of growth in an unfolding righteousness. This righteousness was so perfect that it deserved a seal, for something that is full is always sealed.”

“Therefore all the Gentiles who believe are children of Abraham when faith alone is credited to them as righteousness and they too receive the circumcision—of the heart. Or perhaps this verse should be understood like this: Abraham was righteous in uncircumcision so that he could become the father of uncircumcised believers, and he remained righteous once he was circumcised in order to become the father of the righteous who are circumcised.”

“Here Paul calls circumcision the law, because every commandment can be regarded as part of the law. Abraham inherited the world, either because in his seed (viz., Christ) all the nations which were given to him by the Father might be blessed or because the nations would sup with him in the kingdom of heaven.”

“If only the circumcised are heirs, God has not fulfilled his promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and it will seem that the nations believed in God without any reason.”

“The law brings wrath because it was ordained for the unrighteous, and it weighed sinners down rather than set them free.… Where there is no law there is nothing which can be broken. Or perhaps this means that there is nothing to be punished where the law is not necessary.”

“The law does not forgive sins but condemns them, and therefore it cannot make all nations children of Abraham, because in the end all must be punished since all are found under sin. But faith makes all believers children of Abraham, because their sins have been forgiven by grace.”

“Abraham is the father of all believers, not just of the nation of Israel. "Life to the dead" is given to those who are dead for the purpose of bearing children, which is the context of the present discussion.”

“It was against all natural hope for a hundred-year-old man to believe that his seed would become as numerous as the stars, especially given that his wife had been barren in her youth and was now as feeble as he was.”

“Faith takes no aspect of nature into account, because it knows that the one who spoke is almighty.”

“Abraham doubted neither the impossibility of old age nor the greatness of the promise.”

“Abraham thanked God as if he had already received the gift.”

“This was because Abraham believed so completely and so steadfastly.”

“We are meant to imitate Abraham's example as if he were our father, just as we imitate the examples of the saints, by which they pleased the Lord. They were tempted so that they might know themselves and so that we might follow them. We shall benefit if we believe as completely that God 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 children.”

“Christ wiped away our sins by his death, and, rising again in the same state as the one in which he died, he appeared to believers in order to confirm their righteousness.”

“Paul has discussed the point that nobody is justified by works, but all are justified by faith, and he has proved this by the example of Abraham, of whom the Jews claim to be the only children. He has also explained why neither race nor circumcision makes people children of Abraham but only faith, because Abraham was initially justified by faith alone. Now, having concluded this argument, Paul urges both Jews and Gentiles to live at peace, because no one is saved by his own merit, but everyone is saved in the same way, by God's grace. "Peace with God" means either that both sides should submit to God or that we should have the peace of God and not just the peace of the world.”

“We have drawn near to God, because previously we were far away from him, and we stand, because previously we were flat on our faces. We rejoice in the hope that we shall possess the glory of God's children. What we hope for is so great that no one would try it on his own, in case it should be regarded as blasphemy, not as hope, and as something which many people think is unbelievable because of its greatness.”

“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. We should desire to suffer something for the Lord's name so that when sufferings come to an end we may obtain an eternal reward for them. For when we consider the reward, we cannot possibly begrudge the effort needed to be worthy of the reward.”

“The hope of things to come casts out all confusion. This is why the man who is dismayed by Christ's injunctions lacks hope. The greatness of God's benefits arouses in us greatness of love, which does not know fear or dismay because it is complete. We also learn how God loves us, because he has not only forgiven us our sins through the death of his Son but also given us the Holy Spirit, who already shows us the glory of things to come.”

“Why did Christ die for us when he had no obligation to do so, if it was not to manifest his love at a time when we were still weighed down with the burden of sin and vice? It was the right time, either because righteousness had virtually disappeared and we were weak, or because it was the end of time, or because Christ was dead for the prophesied three-day period. Paul wants to point out that Christ died for the ungodly in order to commend the grace of Christ by considering 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 who is so generous and holy. He neither valued his life above us ungodly people nor withheld the death that was indispensable for us.”

“It is hard to die for a righteous person, because a righteous person is not destined to die.… But perhaps one would die for a good person, so that no harm might come to him.”

“God becomes the object of love when he conveys how much he loves us. For when someone does something without obligation, one demonstrates love in a special way. 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 for the sake of his own creatures? Note that when the apostle says that believers in Christ were once sinners he means that now they are no longer sinners, so that they may recall how they ought to behave.”

“If Christ loved sinners so much, how much more will he now preserve the righteous! We must be careful not to make him unclean by our sinning, as the apostle himself tells the Hebrews.”

“Sinners are enemies because they show contempt. We were enemies in our deeds but not by nature; we have been reconciled in peace, because by nature we have been united in peace. If we have been saved by Christ's death, how much more shall we glory in his life if we imitate it!”

“Not only shall we have eternal life, but through Christ we are promised a certain likeness to divine glory as well. Paul wants to show that Christ suffered so that we who had forsaken God by following Adam might be reconciled to God through Christ.”

“Just as through Adam sin came at a time when it did not yet exist, so through Christ righteousness was recovered at a time when it survived in almost nobody. And just as through Adam's sin death came in, so through Christ's righteousness life was regained. As long as people sin as Adam sinned they die. Death did not pass on to Abraham and Isaac, of whom the Lord says: "They all live to him." But here Paul says that all are dead because in a multitude of sinners no exception is made for a few righteous.… Or perhaps we should understand that death passed on to all who lived in a human and not in a heavenly manner.”

“The law came to punish sin. Before it came, sinners enjoyed at least the length of this present life with less restraint. Sin indeed existed before the law, but it was not counted as sin because natural knowledge had been almost wiped out. How did death reign, if sin was not counted? You have to understand here that it was not counted "for the time being."”

“This may mean that as long as there was no one who distinguished between the righteous and the unrighteous, death imagined that it was Lord over all. Or else it may mean that death reigned not only over those who, like Adam, broke a commandment—like the sons of Noah who were ordered not to eat the life in the blood or the sons of Abraham, on whom circumcision was imposed—but over those who, lacking the commandment, showed contempt for the law of nature. Adam was a type of Christ either because he was made by God without sexual intercourse, just as Christ was born of a virgin by the aid of the Holy Spirit, or he was an antithetical type, that is, as Adam was the source of sin so Christ is the source of righteousness.”

“The gift is not like the trespass, because one must not give equal value to the type as to the original. Righteousness had more power to bring to life than sin had to put to death. Adam killed only himself and his descendants, whereas Christ freed both those who were then in the body and also succeeding generations. Those who oppose the idea of the transmission of sin try to attack it as follows: "If Adam's sin harmed even those who were not sinners, then Christ's righteousness must help even those who are not believers. For Paul says that people are saved through Christ in the same way or to an even greater degree than they had previously perished through Adam." Secondly, they say: "If baptism washes away that ancient sin, those who are born of two baptized parents should not have that sin, for they could not have passed on to their children what they did not possess themselves. Besides, if the soul does not exist by transmission, but only the flesh, then only the flesh carries the transmission of sin and it alone deserves punishment." 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, these people say that on no account should it be accepted that God, who forgives a man his own sins, imputes to him the sins of someone else.”

“The effect of the gift is greater than that of the sin. From the sin of one righteous man came the judgment of death. Adam never came across all the righteousness which he destroyed, but Christ discharged the sins of many by his grace. Adam was only the model for sin, but Christ both forgave sins freely and gave an example of righteousness.”

“Righteousness is given through baptism and is not gained by merit.”

“Death reigned, but so also grace reigned through justification.”

“Just as by the example of Adam's disobedience many sinned, so many are also justified by Christ's obedience. Great therefore is the crime of disobedience, which kills so many.”

“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.”

“Just as the reign of sin was 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 ceasing.”

“Paul is speaking here of those whom faith found in sin, not of us believers, who have died to sin in order to live for grace.”

“Paul wants the baptized person to be steadfast and virtually perfect.”

“Do you not know about this sacrament of baptism? In the Scriptures baptism is received in three ways: with water, with the Holy Spirit (who is also called "fire") and with blood in martyrdom. We who are believers have died with Christ in our baptism.”

“Paul shows that we were baptized so that through the sacrament we are buried with Christ, dying to our sins and renouncing our former life. So just as the Father is glorified in the resurrection of the Son, so too on account of the newness of our lifestyle he is glorified by us all, as long as none of the signs of the old self is recognizable in us. For now we should no longer want or desire anything that those who are not yet baptized and are still trapped in the errors of their old life want or desire.”

“If we are buried with Christ now, we shall be united with him in his resurrection then, and if we have already become new and been changed in our way of life now, we shall likewise be new and changed in glory then.”

“Through baptism you who have been made a member of Christ's body were crucified with Christ. He hangs his innocent body so that you may have the power to restrain your guilty body from sin. Similarly, Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness so that every form of wickedness might be torn down, because each vice is a member of the body of sin. Christ was not crucified in part but in whole. Or perhaps we should read this as meaning that our body should be torn away from slavery to sin and that what used to be the property of transgression should now become the property of righteousness, for "everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin."”

“Freed means "alienated" from sin, for the dead do not sin in any way. "No one born of God commits sin," for since he has been crucified and all his members are filled with regret, he will hardly be able to sin.”

“If we have not died with him we shall not live with him, because then we are not his members.”

“We shall not fear the second death if we have died willingly. Or it may mean: "You cannot be baptized a second time because Christ cannot be crucified for you a second time," as Paul writes to the Hebrews. He does not say that these people cannot repent, but he does not allow them to repeat their baptism.”

“Christ carried our sins and suffered for us so that in the future we might not sin. Christ now lives in the glory of his divinity.”

“As members of Christ 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.”

“You should live in your mortal body as if you were immortal. Paul also explains how sin reigns in the body—by obedience and consent.”

“Every part of the body can become a weapon of wickedness which will defeat righteousness if it turns its purpose to bad use. At the same time, note that it is by freedom of choice that a man offers his members to the side of his choice.”

“Sin will not overcome you, for you are not children but adults. It is like the teacher who says to a student: "Avoid stylistic errors; you are no longer learning from a primary school teacher but from a professor." Paul offered teaching and example as a way to overcome sin by grace.”

“If you sin, you will not be under grace.”

“We "were" slaves to sin, but we "are" no longer.”

“This is according to the teaching and example of Christ, who has taught us to get rid not only of sins but also of opportunities to sin.”

“Paul is saying, in effect: "Although you ought to serve righteousness much more than you previously served sin, I nevertheless make allowance for your weakness so that you might serve righteousness just as much as you once served sin." Or perhaps it is this: Whatever the soul does in a carnal fashion is held against the flesh, but if the flesh performs a spiritual deed the whole person becomes spiritual.… We offered 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 ingrained in it.”

“As you are in no way slaves to sin inwardly, you should become free of every sin.”

“Doubtless there is no blessing in something for which one feels shame when repenting of it. Everyone who comes to know goodness is ashamed of his former actions, but anyone who is ashamed of righteousness is not aware of its fruit. Therefore, those who sin get nothing out of it in the present, and in the future they will reap eternal death. But those who serve God have the gift of the Holy Spirit in the present and eternal life in the future. Or perhaps it should be read like this: what have you got out of doing things which make you feel ashamed whenever you think of them? The return you have already received is that, having been sanctified by baptism, you are alive.”

“One who does military service for sin receives death as his wages. Paul does not use the term "wages of righteousness" because there was no righteousness in us before our baptism which God could repay. Righteousness is not obtained by our effort but is a gift of God.”

“Now Paul begins to point out problems with the law in order to encourage his readers to move over to grace without the fear which belongs to the law.”

“By analogy, Paul calls the commandment of the law a "husband" in order to demonstrate that, without the power to punish, the law (being already dead, as it were) cannot stop us (who have already been put to death) from going over completely to Christ, who has risen from the dead. For the law would quite rightly go on living in us if it could find something in us to punish.”

“As long as her husband is alive, a woman must live according to his will alone, but once he is dead and she is married to another man, she should no longer live in the manner of her former husband.”

“Paul was reluctant to tell the Jews that the law was dead, but what he dared not say out loud he leaves to be understood.… A man bears fruit for God when his works of righteousness like fruit break out in blossom, then grow into fruit, and finally become fully ripe, for no fruit is forever in blossom.”

“When we were still living carnally the passion of lust worked in our eyes, and the other passions worked in the rest of our bodies. It was the law which showed us that these passions were sinful, and the severity of the law killed us.”

“We have died to the sin for which we were held by the law, and now we serve according to the demands of spiritual grace, not according to the written law.”

“From here on Paul speaks as one who accepts the law, i.e., of one who first comes to know God's commandants while he is still in the habit of breaking them. Paul does not say that without the law he would not have been in the habit of coveting, nor does he say that he would not have done it; rather, he says that he would not have known that coveting was a sin.”

“Paul means either that he once imagined that he lived as a righteous and free person or that he was alive, at least for the present life. But 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. Because sin had lived by natural knowledge and died through forgetfulness, it is said to have come back to life through the law.”

“Paul says that he died because then he transgressed knowingly. The commandment which would have led to life had it been kept in fact led to death, because it was disregarded.”

“Contrary to those who attack the law and those who separate justice from goodness, the law is called a good and holy grace as well as a just grace. God is regularly called "good" in the Old Testament and "just" in the New. This contradicts the Marcionites.”

“The law does not become for me the actual cause of death, but I do when I encounter death by sinning. Sin was revealed through the law, which is itself good, and was also punished by it. Before the law came sin was limited because of ignorance, but when it is committed knowingly these limitations are taken away.”

“Paul says he was carnal because, although he accepted the law, he was in the habit of living carnally.”

“Paul says that he subjected himself to sin of his own accord and then, as if drunk, he did not know what he was doing. Or perhaps he meant that he did not understand that what he accepted against his will was evil.”

“Paul says that if he does not want to do the particular evil which he does, at least he agrees with the law, which does not desire evil and prohibits it. But it can also be understood thus: if a man sins, he subjects himself to the severity of the law.”

“Paul means that he did it willingly before it became a habit. Sin then lived in him as a guest or as one thing inside another … in other words, as an accidental quality, not as a natural one.”

“Paul does not say that his flesh is not good. The will is there but not the action, because carnal habit opposes the will.”

“Think of someone who has sworn so much for such a long time that now he does it even when he does not want to.”

“What was once an act of will has become so habitual that now it is involuntary.”

“Paul means that he has a law which will help him do good, even though "evil lies close at hand."”

“Paul's "inmost self" is the rational and intelligent soul which agrees with the law of God, for its law is to live rationally and not to be led about by the passions of irrational animals.The outer self, on the other hand, is the body. Its law is the wisdom of the flesh, which instructs one to eat and drink and enjoy the other sensual pleasures. These war against reason, and if they gain the upper hand, subject it to the law of sin. For if it is true that we do what we do not want to do, Paul would not have said that he sees another law in his members, fighting against the law of his mind. He agrees to the law with his mind.”

“The law of natural conscience, or the divine law which resides in the mind, fights against habitual desires.”

“Who will set me free, says Paul, prisoner that I am, from this fatal habit of the body?”

“Grace sets free the man whom the law could not free. Was Paul at this time not yet set free by the grace of God? Of course! This shows that here he is speaking of somebody else. He then reviews the main points in order to conclude his argument. In a sense the carnal person is made up of two people and is divided within himself.”

“There is nothing which deserves condemnation in those who have been crucified to the works of the flesh.”

“Note that Paul calls the law "grace."”

“The law was weakened in the flesh, not in itself. In saying "God sent his Son" Paul counters Photinus, who denied the Son's existence before the incarnation.… The Son took flesh like that of the rest of humanity and "he condemned sin in the flesh," i.e., he overcame like by like. Just as the sacrificial victims which the Jews offered under the law were given in the name of sin, although they had no sin themselves … so also Christ's flesh, which was offered for our sins, took the name of sin. Some people say that by the sin of the Jews, whereby they killed the Lord, Christ condemned in his humanity the sin of the devil, by which the devil had deceived mankind, as Paul says to the Hebrews: "so that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death." Or it may mean that through the substance of that flesh which previously was a slave to sin, Christ conquered sin by never sinning himself, and in his flesh he condemned sin to show that it was the will which was on trial, not human nature, which God created in such a way that it could avoid sinning.”

“Although the law could not be fulfilled in those in whom carnal habit fights back, at least it can be fulfilled in us, who have mortified the flesh according to Christ's example.”

“Man is composed of spirit and flesh. When a man performs carnal deeds he is called "flesh," but when he performs spiritual deeds he is called "Spirit." For when one of these substances brings the other under its control, the subordinate substance in effect loses both its power and its name. For each substance desires what is connected and related to it.”

“Paul says elsewhere that it is human wisdom to repay evil for evil. Such wisdom obtains death because it transgresses the commandment. But the wisdom of the Spirit enjoys peace now because it does not repay in kind, and in the future it will obtain eternal life.”

“The flesh is not in itself hostile to God, as the Manichaeans say, but the carnal mind is. For everything which is not subject is hostile, and anyone who wants to clear himself may sometimes go beyond the limit of the old law. Paul says that this carnal wisdom can never be subject to the law of God in order to call men back from the desires of the flesh.”

“This proves that Paul did not find fault with the flesh itself but with the works of the flesh, because those to whom he was writing were undoubtedly living in the flesh in the physical sense. Once one has given himself over to the flesh (in the spiritual sense) it is impossible to avoid sin.”

“You are in the Spirit because you are occupied with spiritual things. The Spirit of God dwells in those in whom his fruit is manifest, as Paul says to the Galatians: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, etc." The Spirit of Christ, who loved his enemies and prayed for them, is the Spirit of humility, patience and all the virtues.”

“If you imitate Christ the carnal mind offers no resistance, because it is effectively dead. The spirit lives in order to produce righteousness, for the aim is not just to stop doing carnal things but to start doing spiritual ones.”

“God will not allow the temple of his Spirit to perish. In the same way as he raised Jesus from the dead he will also restore your body.”

“The force of this whole argument is to show that the law, which was given for the carnally minded, is not necessary for those who are spiritual.”

“Carnal people cannot preserve righteousness. But you will live if you have replaced the works of the flesh with spiritual deeds. Note that it is the works which are condemned, not the substance of the flesh.”

“This applies to 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, who was a sinner from the beginning.”

“The Jews received a spirit which constrained them into service by means of fear. For it is the nature of slaves to fear and of sons to love, as it is written: "The slave shall fear his master, and the son shall love his father." Those who were not willing to work 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. He who calls to his father declares himself a son. He ought therefore to resemble his father in character, lest he incur a greater penalty for having assumed the name of his father in vain.”

“The evidence of our adoption is that we have the Spirit, through whom we pray in the manner mentioned above; for only sons could receive such a pledge.”

“He who is worthy to be a son is worthy to be made an heir of the Father and a coheir with the true Son. This happens if we are ready when it becomes necessary to suffer for him as he suffered for us.”

“Paul wants to commend future glory so that we may bear present afflictions more easily. Indeed, no human being could ever suffer anything equal to heavenly glory, even if that glory were comparable to this present life. For whatever a man might suffer in dying is no more that what he already deserved to suffer for his sins. But now his sins are forgiven, and in the future he will be granted eternal life, fellowship with the angels, the splendor of the sun and the other things which we have read have been promised for the saints. At the moment, though, this future glory is "hidden with Christ in God," and "it does not yet appear what we shall be."”

“Different interpreters expound this passage in different ways. Some say that the whole creation awaits the time of the resurrection, because then it will be changed into something better. Others say that this refers only to the angelic, rational creation. Still others say that "creation" refers specifically to Adam and Eve, because they did not sin by themselves but at the temptation of the serpent, who long ago made them subject to corruption when they were exposed to deception in the hope of divine existence. These interpreters say that Adam and Eve will be set free so that they are no longer subject to corruption. But the "whole creation," say these same interpreters, means all those who were righteous up to the coming of Christ, because they too have not yet received and are waiting until God provides something better for us. Not only they, however, but we also, in whom these things have been fulfilled, do not yet hold it in our grasp but endure in hope, although we have seen things which many righteous people have longed to see.”

“"Futility" means everything which will someday come to an end.”

“Creation will no longer serve those who have corrupted the image of God.”

“Just as the angels rejoice over those who repent, so they grieve over those who are unwilling to repent.”

“Not only do the angels, who are kinder than we are, grieve over these unrepentant people, but we who have the Holy Spirit groan for such people.”

“We have not yet seen the things that we were promised, but we live in hope. What we see is not hoped for, but we own it if it belongs to us. Christians have no hope in what can be seen, for we have been promised not what is present but what is to come in the future.”

“The reward for faith with patience is great, because we believe what we do not yet see, and we are as sure of what we have not yet received as if we have already received it. As Paul says to the Hebrews: "You have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised."”

“The Spirit helps us in accordance with the hope we have, so that we may request not earthly things but heavenly ones. For our ability is weak unless it is helped by the Holy Spirit. We still see through a glass darkly, and often what we judge to be helpful is actually harmful. Therefore our requests may not be granted by divine providence, as Paul says elsewhere.”

“Paul has called a gift of the Spirit "the Spirit." … He makes us request with groans which cannot be described, just as God is said to tempt us in order to know, i.e., in order to make us know, what kind of people we are. Even in popular usage the master is said to accomplish what he orders to be done by others, as in statements like "he built a house" or "he wrote a book," though he neither built nor wrote.”

“Whatever we do or suffer out of love for God will grow into a reward for us.”

“God's purpose is his plan to save by faith alone those whom he had known in advance would believe, and those whom he freely called to salvation he will glorify all the more as they work toward it. To predestine is the same as to know in advance. Those whom God foresaw would be conformed in life he intended to be conformed in glory so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

“Those whom God knew in advance would believe, he called. A call gathers together those who are willing to come, not those who are unwilling.… Paul says this because of the enemies of the faith, in order that they may not judge God's grace to be arbitrary. They are called to believe through preaching and are justified through baptism when they believe, and are glorified with spiritual powers now or in the resurrection to come.”

“Paul wants to show that nobody can keep those who love God and who are loved by God from attaining the glory which has been promised, because the perfect love which is in them casts out every reason for mortal fear.”

“God allowed Christ to be handed over in order to preserve the freedom of choice of those who handed him over and to set us an example of patience. How can God have anything dearer to offer us? He offered us his only Son.”

“Who will dare to charge believers whom God has chosen and shown to be righteous by signs and wonders for previous sins or for disregard of the law's commands?”

“Paul speaks of Jesus according to the form of the man he assumed, who died and rose again. Now he intercedes for us so that we may go to be with him where he is. The Arians are in the habit of stirring up false accusations on the basis of Christ's intercession, claiming that the one to whom intercession is made is greater than the one who does the interceding. To this one must answer that God does not forget and so does not need to be constantly reminded of those whom he himself chose. 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.”

“After so many and such splendid benefits and promises, what affliction could be so heavy that it might tear us away from love for Christ? In saying "us" Paul is saying that we should all be the sort of Christians that even dangers cannot separate from Christ.”

“We suffer not for any crime but for the sake of him who said: "Blessed are you when men shall persecute you, etc." This is especially fulfilled in Christians, for we are not permitted to defend ourselves but must endure all attacks with the greatest patience, according to the example of our Lord and teacher, who was led like a sheep to the slaughter.”

“All these troubles we count as nothing because of him who loved us so much that he even dies for us. And we especially triumph when we die for his name, since it is a light thing to suffer what the Lord first suffered for others.”

“I am sure that even if someone threatens us with death, or promises life, or says he is an angel sent from the Lord, or pretends to be the prince of the angels, or gives us some 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 us with deep learning—I am sure that he will never be able to cut us off from the love of Christ.Paul loved God in Christ. Love for Christ means keeping his commandments. Christ established that brotherly love is an imitation of his own love when he said: "By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." So John also says: "If you do not love a brother whom you see, how can you love God, whom you do not see?"”

“Because Paul says that his conscience bears him witness, he shows that he is telling the truth, which conscience corroborates in everyone, and he establishes that he is not charged with lying by an accusation from within.”

“Because Paul intends to proceed against the Jews, he first assures them that he does not speak 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.”

“Paul wished this at one time, before he became a follower of Christ.… But after he recognized the truth, he abandoned those whom he used to love in this way, yet still they do not repent.”

“"The sonship" belongs to the Jews, for of them it was said: "Israel, my firstborn son." They had the old law and the promise of the new law.”

“The patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Paul writes here against the Manicheans, Photinus and Arius because Christ is of the Jews according to the flesh, and God, blessed forever.”

“Since Paul has said above that he is upset that the people of Israel had been shut out of the kingdom by their own fault, for all these things had belonged to them, he shows here that those who do not believe are not sons of Abraham, lest someone think that he was opposed to all Jews and retort: "Did God then lie to Abraham?"”

“Not all Jews are children of Abraham, but some still are; and if not all Israelites are from Israel, then some … are from the Gentiles. Even so, the sons of Abraham were named in Isaac alone and not in Ishmael, although he too descended from Abraham's line.”

“Ishmael was born of a maidservant by sexual intercourse, but Isaac was begotten by supernatural means from old people, by God's promise. So the promise, which Abraham's faith merited, now makes Christians sons of Abraham, so that Abraham is indeed the father of many nations.”

“Not only are Ishmael and Isaac (who were born of different mothers but the same father) not equal in the sight of God; Jacob and Esau too (who were born of Rebecca by a single conception), were separated in God's sight before they were born, because of their future faith, so that God's plan to choose the good and reject the evil already existed in his foreknowledge. Thus God has now chosen from among the Gentiles those whom he foreknew would believe and has rejected those of Israel whom he foreknew would not believe. Rebecca is thought to have been the first woman to have borne twins; it is because this strange thing has happened to her that she inquires of God.”

“God's foreknowledge does not prejudge the sinner, if he is willing to repent.”

“Perhaps this happened so that it might be shown that even from a set of twins the one who does not believe is abandoned.”

“Here Paul shows that the people who came afterward belonged to the promise after the manner of Isaac.”

“The apostle shows that what had been told to Rebecca was fulfilled in her descendants.”

“Paul was afraid that because he had argued that racial privilege is of no consequence in God's sight, or in case the Jews understood him to be saying that already at that time it was indicated that later people would be better people, they might think that he meant that God makes some people good and others evil, because, in the judgment of the Jews, it was unjust to punish those who had not voluntarily sinned, Paul also calls to mind the contrary texts which they usually used to support this view, and after replying to these examples with brief objections he shows that they should not be understood as they understand them.”

“This means: "I will have mercy on him whom I have foreknown will be able to deserve compassion, so that I have already had mercy on him."”

“The Jewish argument here goes like this: "It does not depend on the one who wills or on the one who runs; God has mercy on whomever he wills and hardens whomever he wills." The apostle, though, does not take away what we possess in our own will.… For if the Jewish argument is correct, why does Paul run, as when he says: "I have finished the race," and why does he urge others to run? For this reason it is understood that here Paul takes the role of the one who questions (and refutes), not of the one who denies.”

“The Jews explain this passage in the wrong way as well. It is expounded by Christian interpreters in one of two ways. First, there are those who say that since each one will be punished when the measure and degree of his sins is complete … and Pharaoh had exceeded his limit, God desired to make an example of him for the benefit of others … so that God's people might come to know his justice and power and neither dare to sin nor fear their enemies. The same thing that happened to Pharaoh happens when a doctor, seeking the cure for an illness, discovers a remedy in the course of torturing someone who has already been condemned to death for committing many crimes or when a judge, although he could punish a guilty man immediately, afflicts him first with various torments in order to rouse everyone's fear.Second, there are those who say that Pharaoh was hardened by God's patience, for after a plague from God was over Pharaoh became harder, and although God knew that Pharaoh had not repented he nevertheless wanted to show his forbearance even toward him.”

“If this is understood to mean that God has mercy on whom he wills and hardens whom he wills because there is enough wickedness, then your argument will be lost, viz., the argument that not you but the will of the Lord, to which there can be no opposition, is the cause of your sins. The very nature of God's justice opposes this reasoning.”

“Some people say that Paul is still speaking here in the role of those who object, because to say that nobody can oppose the will of God, who has mercy on one and who hardens another, and to add that nobody should criticize God amounts to the same thing. But others say that from here on the apostle replies that, even if there were a reason for them to make an accusation, they ought not to talk back to their Creator, for in comparison with God, we are like a piece of pottery in the hands of the potter.”

“God put up with Pharaoh for a long time while Pharaoh blasphemed and oppressed his people with hard labor and even had ordered that innocent little children be put to death. By filling up the quota of their sins, people like Pharaoh become vessels worthy of wrath, and by their own doing they prepare themselves for destruction.”

“Since even then some of the Egyptians left with the children of Israel … so too now God has called not only Jews but also Gentiles to faith.”

“Those who think that this is not Paul talking but the Jews interpret it to mean: "God saved as many as he wished, so that he chose even Gentile idolaters who had never served God, and called few from Israel, as Isaiah testifies."”

“Here Isaiah showed that only a few Jews would believe.”

“The historical sense is that, just as I shorten and finish off a sentence, so God will accomplish this with all speed. But in prophecy, the shortened sentence is understood to mean the New Testament, because everything is briefly summarized in it.”

“Predicted is a good choice of words, because the same thing as he mentioned [in verses 27-28] was written even earlier. God did not allow a few righteous people to perish along with a host of the ungodly. Or this text may mean that this would have happened had Christ, Abraham's offspring, not been sent to set the people free. The interpretation of the objectors, however, is that it would have happened, unless God had wished to call at least a few from among the Jews.”

“If this is spoken in the person of the apostle, Paul here once again imagines that the Jews might say: "If it is not true, as we say, that it does not depend on the one who wills or on the one who runs, 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 belongs to the objectors, the apostle is here replying and summarizing the issue by saying: "What shall I say to these objections which are presented to us except that the Gentiles believed as soon as they were called and that the Jews refused to believe?" Righteousness is by faith, and the Jews refused to believe.”

“Paul explains once again why the Jews did not find righteousness. Having wrongly gloried in their works they refused to believe and rejected grace on the ground that they were righteous already.”

“The man who sees a stone does not stumble, but the blind man dashes himself against it. This is what happened to the Jews, who were blinded by their hatred and crucified Christ because they did not recognize him.”

“It was foretold that Christ would be the stumbling stone and the rock of offense precisely because many take offense at his birth and death. … Nobody who believes, not just the Jew, will be put to shame by former sins.”

“Here Paul shows that he prays for his enemies not only with the tongue but also with the heart.”

“The Jews 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 what was expected.”

“Because the Jews did not know that God justifies by faith alone and because they thought 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 having been sinners, as it is written: "But the Pharisees, rejecting God's purpose for themselves, refused to be baptized with John's baptism."”

“On the day that one believes in Christ it is as if one has fulfilled the whole law.”

“Moses distinguished between two kinds of righteousness, the righteousness of faith and the righteousness of works. The latter justifies the suppliant by deeds, but the former justifies by belief alone.… In this age no one keeps the law perfectly without Christ. Believing in him is also implied in the law. On account of this passage some think that the Jews have earned 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 the Lord stipulated the commandments of the law: "If you would enter life, keep the commandments." From this we understand that one who kept the law at that time had everlasting life.”

“Historically speaking, Moses said this about the law, but the apostle applies it to Christ, because the law was neither in heaven nor in the abyss. Or it may mean that Paul is ordering them to meditate constantly on the law so that they may find Christ in it. The "word of faith which we preach" is the New Testament.”

“The testimony of the heart is the confession of the mouth. "You will be saved" from past transgressions, not from future ones.”

“If faith avails for righteousness and confession for salvation, there is no distinction between the Jew who believes and the Gentile who believes.”

“This applies not only to the Jews but to everyone. Do not put believers to shame, therefore, on account of their former actions, since the Scripture says that they cannot be put to shame.”

“There is one Lord of all, who abounds in mercy and possesses salvation, with which he is generous to all.”

“Here we have an objection raised by the Jews concerning the Gentiles, viz., that they could not call upon God.”

“The prophets were never sent to the Gentiles. If not all those to whom the prophets were sent obeyed, how much less those to whom no one was sent!”

“From here on we have the apostle's reply to the above questions.”

“Paul wants this passage to be understood allegorically to refer to the cries of the prophets.”

“Israel did not understand that the Gentiles were to be called to faith. Moses is first because the prophets after him spoke of the salvation of the Gentiles. Before they believed in God, they were not God's people. 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 although you should have been better than they are, you will be glad to be their equals." It is just as if someone has a disobedient son and in order to reform him gives half his inheritance to his slave, so that when he finally repents he may be glad if he deserves to receive even that much.”

“The Gentiles did not enquire after God in the law but after idols in ignorance. They asked not of God but of demons through the augurs, astrologers and haruspices of the idols.”

“The same prophet who made promises of this sort to the Gentiles issues similar warnings here to the Jews, so that you may know that both were foretold. The holding out of the hands means, allegorically, the cross.”

“God has not rejected those whom he knew in advance would believe. Paul eliminates any occasion for pride among the Gentiles, in case they become boastful because so few of the Jews believed.”

“The prophets knew only the things which had been revealed to them by the Lord. That is why the king, uncertain of mind, asked Jeremiah if, at the time at which he spoke with him, a word of the Lord had come to him. … Elijah was unaware that there were others besides himself who worshiped God.”

“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!”

“Just as all did not perish then, so too some are saved now. 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 merit?”

“In case the Jews replied to Paul about those concerning whom the word comes to Elijah: "They were righteous; why were these sinners chosen?" the apostle adds that they too are saved freely just as the Gentiles are.”

“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, even though it disregarded the greatest commandments of the law. That is why the Savior censures those who strain at a gnat but swallow a camel.”

“The rest were hardened through unfaithfulness, as it is written: "Unless you believe, you will not understand."It is God's prerogative to give them the spirit of stupor which they desired, for they have always disbelieved the words of God. If they had wanted to have a spirit of faith they would have received it. But even today Christians who doubt the resurrection reward or Gehenna have sought a similar spirit for themselves, for in this passage the prophet was addressing both believers and sinners.”

“The table is 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.”

“Once more, Paul explains the position of the Jews. They have not fallen away completely and beyond hope. God loved them so much that the Gentiles were called for their salvation, so that when the Jews saw that the Gentiles were being allowed into the kingdom of God, they might perhaps repent more easily.”

“If the transgression of the Jews benefitted you to the extent that without the works of the law you were made coheirs 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!”

“Paul wants to show that he is especially anxious to save the Jews. As long as he is in the body he will honor his ministry, striving to save many of them by his example.”

“Paul will always present himself to the Jews in such a way that they will want to imitate him.”

“What was the occasion for the reception of the Gentiles but that they came to life because of the death of the Jews? Or it may mean from among the Jews that were dead, Christ and the apostles have become life to the Gentiles. Or perhaps if those whom Christ sets free from death contribute to your life.”

“The branches were not broken off for your sake, but you were grafted in because they were broken off. You were an olive shoot, to be sure, but a wild and uncultivated one. "The richness of the olive tree" is the root of their fathers, the richness of Christ.”

“Do not rejoice in the fall of the Jews, 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.”

“Some interpreters, who do not understand this passage and do not consider the reason for which or the people to whom the apostle is speaking, think that the pursuit of wisdom is forbidden by this text. But if this is so Paul will seem to contradict himself in the eyes of these interpreters, since here he is forbidding what elsewhere he asks of the Lord, that the Ephesians and others may receive.”

“If God did not spare those who sprang from the holy root because of their unbelief, how much less will he spare you if you sin!”

“"Severity" is shown against those who assert that there are two Gods, one righteous and another good; and against those who deny that God punishes sinners.… But you were mercifully grafted in, through faith which has been bestowed upon you by the kindness of God.”

“If either of you changes you will experience severity and they will receive kindness. Humanly speaking, it is impossible to restore withered cuttings, but with God all things are possible and even easy.”

“Their fathers had fallen away from nature because they had forgotten the law of nature, and when their habits had become fixed through repeated sinning, they came to be bitter and unproductive, as it were, by nature."And grafted, contrary to nature." … It is against nature to graft a wild olive tree into a cultivated olive tree, because the branch usually alters the effectiveness of the root. The root does not change the effectiveness of the branches to conform to its character.”

“All that follows is designed to prevent the Gentiles from being filled with pride toward the Jews. It is a secret unknown to mankind why the Gentiles were saved, because Israel's blindness in fact furnished the occasion for their salvation. The blindness continued until the Jews saw that the Gentiles were being saved, since all were called to salvation.”

“Some interpreters regard all these events as future. To them one must reply: Then this prophecy … must still take place, and Christ will come again to set them free. If they have been blinded temporarily by God and not by themselves, what will become of those who are now perishing as unbelievers?”

“This new covenant Jeremiah promised which only those who are new, whose sins have been wiped away, will receive.”

“They are Paul's enemies because he preaches Christ to the Gentiles. But if they believe they are beloved, i.e., doubly blessed.”

“If they believe, their sins will not be counted against them, because God does not repent that he made a promise with Abraham's descendants. Or it may mean if they believe they will be saved without the anguish of penance.”

“You did not believe when the Jews did, and now you have received mercy, but not because you have deserved it.”

“Christ is the mercy of the Gentiles. They have been such unbelievers that they too are justified not by their works but in mercy, as you are.”

“God has not imprisoned them by force, but for a good reason he has confined all those whom he found in unbelief, i.e., all Jews and Gentiles. He confined the Jews because previously they were only sinners, not faithless as well. But since they have not believed Christ they are equal to the Gentiles and receive mercy in the same way. God does all this so that he may have mercy on them all.”

“Paul praises the wisdom of God, who according to his foreknowledge waited until all were in need of mercy in order to take from everyone the glory that derives from unfounded boasting in works. The judgments of God are a great deep, for they cannot be clearly grasped.”

“Previously nobody knew it, but at the time of writing Paul certainly knew it, as he indicated to others when he said: "We have the mind of the Lord."”

“Who has done something beforehand, so that instead of magnifying God's mercy, he boasts that he has received what he deserved?”

“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 any created thing. He alone should receive glory, for it is from him that we live and move.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 was made through the Word. 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.”

“Because Paul has already mentioned the mind of the Lord, he now instructs them how they ought to conduct themselves so that they are worthy to have the mind of the Lord. They possessed nothing greater than the mercy of God because they had been set free by it. They were to present their bodies, not those 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. The living sacrifice was to be pure and free from the total death of sin. It should be pleasing only to God, not to other people. 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, for then one is performing a good deed in a foolish way. And the same applies to all vices that border on virtues.”

“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. Thus even the movements of the body will be renewed, so that you may be able to recognize the will of God and his mind, for these are revealed only to a renewed mind.”

“Since Paul is about to disallow human wisdom that goes beyond the law, he declares that he is not speaking his own mind but by the authority of a spiritual gift. He is writing to all those who are priests or teachers, whose example the others follow.One who searches into matters of which the law does not speak is trying to be wiser. That 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." Note that Paul calls the Holy Spirit God, for to the Corinthians he declares that the Holy Spirit apportions gifts to each person as he wishes. A charismatic power, which only believers receive, is to be regarded as a measure of faith.”

“Paul exhorts them to live in harmony by comparing them with the body, in case they are not roused by the fact that they have received different gifts. For as individuals they could not have had all the gifts, for then they might have become proud.… Nor could they all have the same gift, for then the likeness of the body of Christ would not be present among us.”

“The gift does not depend upon us but upon the one who gives it. The glory to come is promised to all who believe, but the person who has a heart so pure that he deserves it receives the charismatic power which God has chosen for him even in this life.If we receive prophecy, it is according to faith, not the law. Or perhaps this means that faith deserves it. For each one receives as much as he believes.”

“"Service" refers to the office of elder or deacon.”

“Complete purity should dwell in the Christian, just as God is pure light, for it is typical of slaves to dissemble. And let us love not only in word but in deed and in truth, so that if it were necessary we would even die for one another.”

“You should love one another as if you had been born of the same mother. If we always observed this injunction we would maintain love and patience. For if we considered ourselves less than everyone else we would neither insult anyone gratuitously nor be deeply hurt if someone insulted us.”

“Do not become slow and lazy in God's work out of concern for the world. The Lord does not love those who are unresponsive and is nauseated by those who are lukewarm. If we are resistant to the world we then manifestly glow with the Spirit, doing all things not for the world or its vices but for the Lord.”

“Bear everything for the sake of the joy of the hope to come.”

“Provide for those who need the services of others for a while, because they neglect their own affairs for the sake of Christ. Practice hospitality, because the saints did this too, e.g., Abraham and Lot, who detained even guests who were reluctant to stay.”

“The Lord was brought to tears by the tears of Mary, to give us an example. For do not suppose that he wept for Lazarus, whom he would bring back to life, nor because of the unbelief of those who again and again did not believe him when he performed wonders. But now we do the opposite—we weep over those who rejoice and rejoice over those who weep. For if someone has been praised, we are 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, we who do not grieve for a member who has been cut off but are enemies of our own side and friends of the opposite side, who do not grieve when the strongest men of our battle line fall and do not rejoice if we see them fighting bravely, even though we ourselves are not mighty in battle.”

“Regard one another as you regard yourselves. The person who desires to avenge his wrongs by himself thinks proud thoughts and does not agree to things humble, i.e., to humiliation. Do not boast of human wisdom, but be fools to the world so that you may be wise in the Lord.”

“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 offer the other cheek as well. 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. Take care not to act so that you seek to please not God but only other people.”

“Inasmuch as you can, be at peace with everybody … desiring their conversion and salvation.”

“I will avenge the wrong, says the Lord, as my own, not as yours.”

“Do not deny your enemy what God denies no one, even if he is a godless blasphemer. When he realizes that coals have been heaped upon him through your undeserved mercy, he may shake them off, that is, repent, and may love you whom at one time he hated. Otherwise it is not mercy but cruelty, if you show mercy so that something worse might befall him, for whom you are called to intercede to the Lord.”

“This is an argument against those who thought that they were obliged to use their Christian freedom in such a way that they gave honor or paid taxes to nobody. Paul wants to humble such people in any way he can, so that they will not suffer reproach on account of their pride instead of on account of God.It seems that Paul is speaking of secular authorities, not all of whom will be just, even if they received their authority from God.… The ruler is set up by God to judge with righteousness, so that sinners might have reason to be afraid should they sin.”

“As it was said to Rahab: "Whoever goes outside will be responsible for himself."”

“The wicked should be afraid of the authorities, but the good have no reason to fear, for they come into glory if they are killed unjustly. Paul says: "Take my advice and you will never be afraid." Condemnation of the wicked is in itself commendation of the good.”

“The authorities are concerned for your safety. They also have the responsibility to see to it that if you sin you do not profit thereby, because God does not love the wicked and hates all who "work iniquity."”

“You must be subject, 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.”

“Taxes can also mean taxes for the priests, which were set up for them by God. Or this may mean that you pay taxes to rulers because, in possessing the world, you subjected yourselves to them willingly. Paul calls them "God's servants," so that people might render to them what they owe, lest it seem that Christ taught his followers pride.”

“Even alms can be called a due. Revenue is ours to give to those who are passing by or to those who are seated by the roadside while we pass by.… Fear as well as honor must be given to those who are your superiors but only honor to your peers.”

“Do not fail to repay debts. Only the debt of love should remain, because it can never be paid in full. According to the parable of the Lord, who bids us show mercy to everyone without distinction, we must think of every person as our neighbor. Paul mentioned love first because he was writing to the faithful and dealing with behavior proper to righteousness.”

“The whole of righteousness is summed up in the love of one's neighbor. 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. He knows how much he wishes both aspects to be done with regard to himself.”

“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? 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.”

“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.… Let us together rise from the sleep of idleness and ignorance, for now the knowledge of Christ shines forth. With the increase of knowledge our salvation is nearer than it was when we first believed.”

“Paul likens knowledge to the day and ignorance to the night, in accordance with what Hosea says: "I have likened your mother to the night; my people have become as those who have no knowledge." Let us therefore cast off the works of ignorance and put on the armor of light, that is, works of light.”

“Just as the light of day keeps everyone from doing what he would freely do at night, so too, knowledge keeps us from ignoring the commands of the law. A revel is a luxurious banquet, but we have a spiritual feast. Moreover, that drunkenness is ruinous and an occasion for debauchery is further proved by the fact that Paul has added "licentiousness." That quarrelling and jealousy are also objects of reproach is demonstrated both here and by many other examples.”

“Christ alone should be seen in us, not the old self, for "one who says he abides in Christ should walk as he walked."”

“From here on Paul indirectly begins to upbraid those who thought they were strong and who therefore ate meat without restraint. Paul tells them not to judge others according to their opinions when the law does not judge them.”

“Some people have a faith so strong that it is not disturbed. Some are worn out by abstinence, or else they are elderly. Others are weak because of their youth or the lusts of the flesh. Paul is not speaking here of the Jews, as some suppose, but of those who abstain, for the Jews do not eat meats even if they are clean according to the law, but only vegetables.Another possible interpretation is this: If you become fainthearted because you know another person who has decided to eat only vegetables and you hesitate to eat meat because of his faith, do not judge the other man's decision or ask him what has been left to individual discretion. But if you take offense and do not want to eat meat, set a limit for yourself and do the better thing—eat only vegetables—so that everyone may be stirred to abstinence by your agreeableness in this matter rather than be annoyed and offended and thereby merely strengthened in their resolve to go on eating meat. For you cannot condemn someone if he is acting in faith or does it because of his health or old age.”

“These people took offense at each other. Those who did not eat judged those who ate as carnal, and those who ate ridiculed those who did not eat as fools and considered them to be superstitious. But God called the one, just as he called the other.”

“What authority do you have to judge someone whom the law does not judge? This is why James says: "He who judges his brother judges the Law"; in other words, he judges himself to be wiser than the law. Nevertheless, Paul himself judged those who broke the commandments and gave others the power to judge. A man either lives or dies according to his own master.”

“Therefore Paul is speaking here about fasting and abstinence, which are not treated under a fixed provision of the law. Each individual should do whatever he sees fit in the light of his desire to share in the reward. Thus it follows that in a matter of this kind one should simply do what he himself has judged to be better.”

“The man who fasts for God's sake and not on account of other people observes the day for the Lord. He eats for God's sake so that he may have strength to preach the gospel, for which every convert should thank God. This man is not devoted to his own stomach but to the salvation of others.But it is also true that by the example of the one who does not eat meat 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 as voice gives thanks with many others.”

“No believer lives for himself or dies for himself, because "Christ has died for all, so that those who live no longer live for themselves but for him."”

“Therefore, we must take care that we do not live for ourselves in eating or die on account of others in fasting.”

“The coming of Christ will find people alive and will bring the dead back to life. It does not matter whether he brings you back to life or finds you alive, as long as you appear righteous before him.”

“By what authority do you condemn your brother as a voracious glutton? For what reason do you despise him, as if he were weak or his fast were pointless? The Lord will judge our consciences to see with what sort of desire and intention we did what we did.”

“This shows that we must all account for our actions to the Lord alone.”

“We shall account to God for those things about which the law is silent. But if we do not rebuke someone when we see him sinning, we shall also give an account to the Lord for that.”

“From here on, Paul subtly begins to recommend abstinence and says that even though those who eat are strong, they ought to abstain in case the weak are subjected to a stumbling block by their example.”

“Paul is not saying here that there is anything which is unclean but that for someone with a tender conscience things do become unclean, for even after coming to faith in Christ he is still judging according to Jewish custom.”

“Paul did not say that a brother is distressed because of fasting but because of food; therefore you should not incite or constrain anyone by the example of what you eat. If your neighbor eats something which is not good for him against his will, you are no longer loving him as yourself if you are not thinking of his good as much as of your own.”

“What is good is our freedom, which we have in the Lord, so that everything is clean to us. We should not use our freedom in such a way that we appear to be living for the stomach and for feasts.”

“We are not justified by food. But one should also note that Paul did not say that "fasting and temperance" are not the kingdom of God but rather food and drink. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are more easily maintained through abstinence, for where there is righteousness (by loving one's neighbor as oneself) there is also peace, and where there is peace there is also spiritual joy, because distress and trouble always arise out of discord.”

“No one can doubt that a person like this is holy.”

“Let us not judge one another in matters of this kind. Abstinence is edification; food, on the other hand, even if it does not ruin anybody, edifies no one.”

“The "work of God" means "a human being, created by God." Paul repeats what he said above [in verse 14], lest it appear that he is condemning creation. What is clean in itself becomes wrong if someone else takes offense on his account.”

“If you consider yourself faithful in this matter, eat in such a way that nobody is weakened by your example. The man who, in demonstrating his own strength, does not think of himself but of the salvation of the weak, is truly blessed.”

“Whatever destroys another is not of faith and is therefore sin.”

“If you really are strong, Paul says, do as I did and become weak in order to win the weak.”

“Let us be commended not by ourselves but by our neighbors, just as Paul sets his own example before us elsewhere when he says: "Just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage but that of many, that they may be saved." For nobody can build up another person if he has not first attracted him by his good life. But those who do their own will, because they are seeking their own advantage, are pleasing themselves. Paul indicates how and why we should please, so that we do not do it for worthless glory.”

“An imitator and disciple of Christ does not seek his own advantage. Christ died for the salvation of others and bore the most bitter reproach.… But whatever insults are cast, not only upon Christ but also upon the saints for God's sake, are cast upon God himself.”

“No Scripture is written without reason, for the merits and temptations of the righteous contribute to our edification, because they so very obviously lived for God. Through the encouragement of the Scriptures we await with great patience the hope which is to come.… Those who enjoy the encouragement of the law cannot be moved by any temptation. By the examples of patience and encouragement which have been written down, we may hope for encouragement both in present temptations and … in the future. For it is great cause for encouragement if we know that our Lord and his saints have already borne the things which we suffer.”

“The God of steadfastness is the Holy Spirit, who grants that with one mind, in accordance with Christ, we may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. His steadfastness is meant to lead to repentance, and his encouragement is for those who have already repented.We are to live in harmony, so that each one may seek the salvation of the other as if it were his own, just as Christ saved everyone from death by his own death.”

“God is truly glorified when we praise him with one mind and with one voice.”

“For the sake of God's honor bear one another's burdens. … If God took us upon himself while we were ungodly, how much more should we, who are like one another, support each other!”

“Once more Paul urges both Jews and Gentiles to unity with each other. He agrees with the Jews that Christ was promised to them and came to them first and that the Gentiles were called later on, because of God's mercy. Nevertheless, both peoples have now been made into one.”

“Paul deprives the Jews of presumption when he teaches that it was foretold that the Gentiles would be saved, even though this was not announced to them. Christ accepts those Gentiles who have received mercy because they too belong to his body.”

“These Gentiles have been brought to salvation along with God's people, the Jews.”

“The Gentiles must praise God because they have been brought to salvation.”

“Jesse was the father of David, from whose seed, through Mary, Christ was born [cf. 1:3].… It is thus proved to the Jews that their Messiah has already come, because it is clear that all the Gentiles hope in Christ.”

“All the joy of believers should be in the hope to come. Where there is peace, all is joy. However, there is no joy in discord but only widespread sorrow.… Hope rests in the signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit.”

“As a good teacher Paul rouses the people to further progress by praising them, so that they might blush for not being the sort of people the apostle thought they were. He is careful not to appear as if he has sternly rebuked the quarrelsome, the dissident or the foolish.”

“Paul means: "I had greater confidence to write because I knew that you were sensible people, ready to accept a reasonable argument." … Paul wrote to them not because of earthly obligations or to earn praise but to discharge the task he had received.”

“By his example Paul was showing that what he performed with so much fear is holy. For some pass off as human what they proclaim as divine, with the result that what is holy seems to be unholy, since it is not done in a holy way.… Following Paul, however, the Gentiles become an acceptable sacrifice to God, sanctified and exalted not by fire but by the Holy Spirit.”

“Paul has glory in the sight of God, even though he is defamed and attacked in the public eye.”

“Paul has not tried to claim that he has done anything in his own strength. God did all these things through him.”

“Paul was talking not about words here but about miracles. The gospel is fully disseminated when the Gentiles also believe.”

“A man who builds on someone else's foundation is not doing anything wrong, as long as he builds with gold and such. Here Paul is referring to those false apostles who always went to converts and never to the Gentiles because they could not work miracles. Paul also shows that he had done a good job, for he both laid the foundation and also built on top of it.”

“Paul shows that his work was foretold. Christ was made manifest in the apostles through the miracles which they performed in his name.”

“Where all the people have already heard the gospel, Paul has no reason for laying a foundation. Observe from this that there are some desires which are good!”

“It is not certain whether Paul ever got to Spain.… The reason he says that he will enjoy their company "for a little" is that they did not need to come to faith but only to be strengthened in faith. Or it may mean that no amount of time can satisfy love.”

“In Jerusalem there were saints who had sold all their possessions and laid them at the feet of the apostles, devoting themselves to prayer, reading and teaching. It is clear from this text that their character was such that Paul is traveling in order to attend them in person, and he hopes that his offering will be received by them … thereby showing that it is more blessed to give than to receive.”

“They thought it would be good for them to make some collection for the expenses of the saints who had voluntarily become poor for their edification.”

“By example Paul incites the Romans to a similar effort, indicating that there was a good reason why it seemed good to them. The Gentiles had obtained teachers from the Jews and so … they ought to share their abundance with them.”

“If the Romans behave well, Paul will be full of good teaching for them, for the teacher is incited to teach to the extent that the student shows progress.”

“Paul asks the whole church to pray for him, because he knows that when many people pray together their prayers have great effect. When James was killed, Peter was set free from prison by the prayers of the brethren, who prayed not so much for his good as for their own, so that they could be strengthened by his teaching. Spiritual love leads us to pray for one another.”

“Paul says this either so that they may all believe or else so that he may not fall into the hands of unbelievers while he is trying to serve believers, with the result that it would be impossible for him to come to them.”

“Paul will come to Rome in joy if his offering is accepted at Jerusalem and will then speak the Word of God with peace of mind.… For heaviness of heart is a great hindrance to teaching.”

“The God of peace dwells only in those who are peaceable. It is good that he has concluded with peace, because the two parties are here called back to peaceful agreement with each other.”

“Although the text of the letter is already finished, as it were, Paul has attached this material for the purpose of commendation and greeting, as was his custom.Even today, women deaconesses in the East are known to minister to their own sex in baptism or even in the ministry of the Word, for we find that women taught privately, e.g., Priscilla, whose husband was called Aquila.”

“Help her with expenses or support, says Paul, because she also helped many people as long as she had the means.”

“They are said to have established Apollos in the faith. Paul calls them helpers because they helped him in his work of instruction.”

“By supporting Paul's teaching, they exposed themselves to danger. Therefore all the churches thank them, for Paul was kept from harm by them.”

“Paul shows that a gathering of believers is called a "church." Epaenetus was the firstborn of the church in Asia Minor. We learn from their names that all the people Paul greets were foreigners, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that the Romans came to faith through their example and teaching.”

“These were Jews, and because they had suffered tribulation along with Paul but like him they had not been intimidated, they are deservedly held in esteem. Among others, they had been sent to further the progress of the Romans, and according to the testimony of Paul himself they are reported to have been believers before him.”

“By his example Paul teaches us what sort of friends we should greet in our letters, not those who are rich in worldly goods or honored with positions of rank but those who are well supplied in grace and faith.”

“Not with a false and treacherous kiss, of the sort with which Judas betrayed the Savior. For in the church the peace is proclaimed first, so that we may show that we are at peace with all who are about to partake of the body of Christ.”

“Paul 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 brethren, they preached new moons and sabbaths and other feast days for the sake of their stomach.”

“If you obeyed those you should not have obeyed, how much more should you obey us! For this is why these people came to you, because they knew that you could readily be led astray by unsuspecting obedience. I rejoice with you, because obedience is good only if it is reasonable. I want you to be wise in what is good, so that by being ignorant of evil you may bring the enemy down under the feet of innocence.”

“The Lord has given us power to tread upon scorpions and snakes and every power of the enemy so that he may not prevail over us and so that we can walk over him with all our members free and unfettered.”

“This is the closing formula, written in Paul's own hand, in all his letters.”

“God strengthens us with signs and teachings, so that you may live in the way that Paul has preached by the example and authority of Christ.”

“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, had long been hidden in the law. Although the prophets had said many things about the Gentiles, none had recognized as clearly as Paul how Gentiles and Jews would become one in Christ. For they had been able to determine that some should be admitted to the faith as proselytes.”

“God commanded that all the Gentiles obey and acknowledge God. He alone knew that this would one day happen, for he alone is naturally wise just as he is naturally good. Mankind is also called good, it is true, 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 forever. Amen.”

“By calling Sosthenes his brother, Paul is both demonstrating his own humility and pointing out that Sosthenes is a fellow worker in the gospel.”

“Paul is writing to those who have preserved their sanctity, not to those who have lost it. The former he honors with his letter; the latter he admonishes with his authority.”

“When the Corinthians came to faith in Christ they were blessed with all grace. But now that they were no longer living according to their faith, they had made void the grace which they had received.”

“Christ's second coming is described as a revelation, because now it is hidden from us.”

“Paul did not usurp the functions of the lower offices when he was able to exercise the higher ones. It would be as if nowadays a bishop or even a priest were to do the work of a deacon.”

“The Jews want signs, because that is what the prophets gave them, but even then they do not believe. The Greeks, on the other hand, want clever academic arguments.”

“Note that Paul does not say that the divinity of Christ is God's power and wisdom, but rather the pattern of the cross.”

“Human wisdom is temporal. The power of God is eternal.”

“Pilate, Caiaphas and the rest were condemned by their ignorance, because they should have known the truth. There are two kinds of heretics who misinterpret this passage. The first are the Apollinarians, and the second are the Arians. The Apollinarians are wrong because they do not accept that Christ's human nature was perfect. The Arians err because they claim that the Word of God can suffer. Arius did not believe that it was the Lord of glory who took on a human nature, and therefore he thought that the Word, being only human, could suffer.”

“We have the mind of Christ because we have the Holy Spirit.”

“If Paul and Apollos counted for nothing, what can we say about those who glory in the flesh?”

“Paul points out that he and Apollos are merely hired hands on someone else's farm. They have nothing apart from the payment they get for their labor.”

“The house does not build itself; somebody has to put the walls up. This is the role of teachers in the church. The gold, silver, etc., represent six different types of hearers. Gold stands for good respondents, silver for better ones (because silver is stronger than gold) and precious stones for the best of all. Similarly, wood stands for bad people, hay for those who are worse and straw for the worst of all.”

“Gold, silver and precious stones will survive the fire of judgment, but wood, hay and straw will be burned up.”

“The thoughts of the wise contribute nothing to a person's salvation.”

“Paul's behavior was completely consistent with his teaching.”

“This proves that there were no Christian judges at that time, because Paul refers to them all as "unrighteous."”

“There is a double sin here. First, they were taking each other to court, and secondly, they were going to court before unbelievers.”

“The Corinthians were not to bother about the sins they committed before baptism. All that should concern them now was that they should not sin again in the future.”

“Fornication multiplies sins because two people are involved, and both perish together.”

“People who want to be promiscuous argue that God commanded us to have sexual relations, so that the earth would be filled with human beings. But God is quite capable of making humans out of the earth, as he did at the beginning, so this is no excuse.”

“The Lord must come before a husband or a wife.”

“Someone who has been circumcised should not think that this is going too far, or regret it, because in its own day it was necessary. But neither should he seek to convert the uncircumcised to that practice.”

“God does not care about our social status but about our will and mind.”

“Happy is the woman who has a husband. Happier still is the widow who can remain chaste with little effort on her part. But happiest of all is the virgin, who can attain to the highest prize without struggling.”

“Note that it was not just idolatry which led to death [but their immorality as well].”

“The man is head of the woman in the natural order but not in Christ, in whom there is neither male nor female. Nevertheless, Paul wanted women to be subject to their husbands. God is the head of Christ's humanity, because the divinity which was in the human Jesus controlled his doings.”

“Paul was complaining because men were fussing about their hair and women were flaunting their locks in church. Not only was this dishonoring to them, but it was also an incitement to fornication.”

“In blessing the bread even before his suffering, Jesus left behind a last commemoration, or memorial. This is rather like someone who, when about to go on a journey, leaves some token of himself with his loved one, so that whenever she looks at it she will be reminded of his goodness and love toward her.”

“The dim mirror is the law of Moses, which contains everything in types and shadows.”

“If it is uncertain whether the bugle is sounding for relaxation or for war, nobody will get ready for battle. The latter is how your own words should be understood, for they are meant to prepare soldiers for spiritual warfare.”

“Any language we cannot understand we look down on as barbaric.”

“Paul is thinking here of laypeople, who do not hold office in the church.”

“Here Paul explains what he said above, which is that a believer should be a blessing to everyone.”

“On the day of Pentecost the Jews said that the apostles were full of new wine. It is more or less the same thing here.”

“The unbeliever is convicted when his conscience is struck by the teaching being given.”

“The resurrection of the body is the whole point of our gospel message. Without it, all the works of prayer and fasting which we do are meaningless.”

“Hosea [6:2] says: "He will revive us after two days; he will raise us up on the third day."”

“The one depends on the other. Either you believe both, or you believe neither.”

“Some heretics claim that there is a resurrection of the soul but not of the body, though this makes no sense. How can there be a resurrection of something which has not fallen into the ground and died?”

“Our preaching would not just be pointless, it would be downright false, if this were the case.”

“In other words, if you accept that Christ rose from the dead, believe that we shall rise again also.”

“If Christ lied about his resurrection, then he lied about his claim to forgive our sins also.”

“Paul has the martyrs in mind above all. They would have lost their lives in vain if there was no other life to look forward to.”

“If the head has risen, then the rest of the body will follow in due course.”

“Everything wrong with our bodies in this life will be healed in the resurrection.”

“If God could make the sun, moon and stars, what problem will he have in making new bodies for us?”

“Paul says this, because the people he is referring to dwell among the Corinthians, who can profit greatly from their presence.”

“People ask why it is that Paul puts his own name first, when the normal custom in letters is to put the name of the addressee at the beginning. The reason for this is that he is an apostle who is writing to those who are accountable to him. This is why he adopts the custom of secular judges, who do the same thing when they write to those over whom they exercise authority. Note too that he did not say "Paul and Timothy," because they were not both apostles. But in writing to the Philippians Paul did say that, because it was not so necessary for him to stress his authority in that case..”

“Paul recounts his own sufferings so that the Corinthians will realize that what they are going through is nothing by comparison. The disciple who grieves over his own hurt will be comforted when he sees that his master is suffering far more.”

“Death itself teaches us that all human help is inadequate and that our only hope is to rely on him who can raise us from the dead.”

“Through your love the offender will know that he has received forgiveness.”

“Paul calls the knowledge of God an aroma. Its presence is sensed rather than seen.”

“Paul is not saying this in order to boast but so that the Corinthians will not be seduced by others.”

“It was clear to everybody that the Corinthians owed their conversion to Paul's teaching, which the Holy Spirit had confirmed. We know that we belong to Christ if we have received the Spirit.”

“The law kills the sinner, but grace revives him if he repents. There are some people who say that the literal sense of Scripture is the thing which kills, but this is to forget that not all Scripture is meant to be taken literally, nor can allegory be pressed into service in every passage. For just as some things are said in an allegorical way, so other things, like the commandments, will lose all their meaning if they are taken allegorically and become destructive. The spiritual meaning of Scripture is not found in allegory but in letting the meaning of the text explain the essence of truth.”

“The god of this world may be understood to be the devil, on the ground that he has claimed to rule over unbelievers. Or, on account of the attacks of the heretics it may be understood to mean that God has blinded the minds of unbelievers precisely because of their unbelief.”

“We do not suffer because of doing wrong but for the sake of the body of Christ, which is the church. He suffered for us so that his life, which is eternal, might be made manifest in our mortal bodies, so that they too might become immortal.”

“Here Paul is attacking those who have believed in false apostles, who claimed that Paul was suffering because he had little faith. According to them, faith ought to guarantee that there will be no suffering at all. But Paul shows that, on the contrary, he has endured all things precisely because of his faith.”

“Our groanings are like those of a woman in labor, awaiting a new birth.”

“God has given us the Spirit as a guarantee so that we might know that he will not allow the temple of his Spirit to perish.”

“As long as we are in this present body, we are tossed about by events in this world and do not know how it will all end. But once we have left the body, we know that we are going to be with God, since we are freed from the uncertain and hostile cares of this world. Here we are pilgrims, and as wanderers we should not worry too much about the things of this world. Let us be content with what is necessary and concentrate all our desire and longing on getting to our Father's home.”

“We are reconciled to God if we believe in Christ.”

“Paul and his companions were unknown to the wicked and reprobate but well known to the faithful and just.”

“The person who has only the bare necessities lacks nothing.”

“Some are poor in material terms but rich in their simplicity. They would rather give than receive.”

“This is to be understood of Luke, who was highly honored because he had written a Gospel, not to mention the Acts of the Apostles as well.”

“No one is more foolish than the person who thinks that he alone belongs to Christ.”

“Paul is saying all this precisely in order to avoid charges of this kind.”

“Paul calls himself foolish in order to demonstrate that it is those who boast about themselves who really are the foolish ones.”

“The serpent deceived Eve by lying to her about God, saying that God merely threatened men with death, but would never actually kill anyone. Likewise, the false apostles in Paul's day were saying that the gospel was merely added to the Old Testament and that it was therefore necessary to go on keeping the law of Moses as before. In our own time, there are those who claim that hell is merely a threat, either because it does not exist at all or because it is not an eternal punishment—notions which are contrary to the teaching of Scripture.”

“You see how pressed Paul was to make his point, if he had to recall something which had happened as long as fourteen years before.”

“We learn from this that even a wrong prayer will receive an answer, even if it does not get what it wants.”

“Paul is telling the Corinthians that if he had more to give them, he would be bound to do so, as a loving parent.”

“All the saints sent their greetings, not just the leaders.”

“This is written against the Arians, who maintain that the Father is greater than the Son on the ground that he is usually mentioned first.”

“The reception of the gospel by the Thessalonians "in power" may mean that Paul's preaching was accompanied by miraculous signs, but it may also mean that it strengthened the Thessalonians for much endurance in suffering.”

“Just as a nurse cherishes small children, now also as a father Paul instructs the Thessalonians to increase their abilities and effectiveness as Christians.”

“Good teachers are accustomed to locate every hope and joy and crown in the progress of their students.”

“"Since indeed" suggests confirmation, not doubt. It is as if Paul had said that since the source of righteousness can judge what is righteous, just as God has promised rest for those who suffer for his name, so tribulation will come for those who make tribulation for the faithful.”

“Timothy is a son in faith, not in flesh.”

“When Paul speaks of the salvation that comes through childbearing, he refers to the baptism and rebirth to which their children are led by the believing mother.”

“This could range widely in meaning from not delivering blows to the point of death to not striking the consciences of the weak with a bad example.”

“The mystery of faith is the passion of Christ, out of which comes the redeeming process by which our salvation is won. "The clear conscience" refers to the fact that the person who knows this mystery purely is not confounded by the spectacle of Christ's humiliation, or, it means that this mystery should be preached straightforwardly, piety not requiring anything beyond the statement itself.”

“What is being said here applies in particular to the women who are being considered for ordination as deaconesses.”

“Paul says, My whole origin steered me to the worship of God. I devastated the church of Christ not from malevolence but from zeal for the law.”

“God foreknew those who would be reborn in response to the offer of grace.”

“Either "with many persons present I gave you mandates such as you should teach," or "what I said I have confirmed with many examples and testimonies from the prophets."”

“Do not manipulate Scripture testimonies. This kind of argument does not edify but does damage to one's hearers, who come to think that a certain sharpness and subtlety of mind is everything. Or: Don't try to win with words but with deeds.”

“It is correct living that confirms the word and that interprets it rightly.”

“That kind of wound is called a suppurating sore, which begins in the female breasts and then grows quickly into the abdominal region. When it finally becomes a poison that permeates the heart, there is no remedy. In just such a way the discussions of heretics are to be avoided, lest through the ears they reach the mind with an irremediable wound.”

“The resurrection has happened, according to them, either in children or in Ezekiel's reference to the revivified bones of the people of Israel in captivity.”

“The house described by Paul cannot be the church, which is pure, but must be the world with its mixture of wheat and tares.”

“Preaching is always appropriate, whether to those who hear willingly or not.”

“Archippus is a deacon of the church, as suggested in Colossians 4:17.”

“It is to be noted that he wished no one to do anything good by necessity, lest that person lose the reward of freely choosing to do the right thing.”