ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 15 v56b

THE POWER OF SIN IS THE LAW. AUGUSTINE: Nothing could be truer. For a prohibition always increases an illicit desire so long as the love of and joy in holiness is too weak to conquer the inclination to sin. So without the aid of divine grace it is impossible for man to love and delight in sanctity. CITY OF GOD 13.5.

ADDING STRENGTH TO EVIL EVEN THROUGH A GOOD LAW. AUGUSTINE: The prohibition increased the concupiscence. It rendered it unconquered. So transgression was added, which did not exist without the law, although there was sin. … It is not to be wondered at that human infirmity has added the strength even from a good law to evil, since in the fulfilling of that very law it trusted in its own strength. ON CONTINENCE 7.

FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. AUGUSTINE: Indeed, by sinning we slip down into death. For where the law forbids, we sin more seriously than if we were not forbidden by the law. However, when grace is added, we then fulfill without difficulty and most willingly that very thing which the law had oppressively commanded. We are no longer slaves of the law through fear but friends through love and slaves of the righteousness which was the very source of the law’s promulgation. Accordingly the law of sin and death, that is, the law imposed upon sinning and dying men, merely commands that we do not covet. Nonetheless, we do covet. However, the law of the spirit of life—the law which belongs to grace and sets us free from the law of sin and death—causes us not to covet. It causes us to fulfill the commands of law. QUESTIONS 66.

DEAD TO THE LAW. AUGUSTINE: Why, if the law is good, is it the power of sin? Because sin wrought death by that which is good, that it might become exceedingly sinful, that is, might acquire greater powers by becoming also transgression. Why, if the law is good, are we “dead to the law by the body of Christ”? Because we are dead to the law’s condemnation, being set free from the disposition which the law condemned and punishes. … So the same precept, which is law to those who fear it, is grace to those who love it. TO SIMPLICIAN—ON VARIOUS QUESTIONS 1.17.

SIN TAKEN ALONG WITH DEATH. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: By “law” here Paul simply means either what inheres in the flesh or what is added to it. His point is that sin is taken away along with death and that the law ceases to exist once we have become immortal and are governed by the grace of the Spirit. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

1 Cor