ACC ~ Romans 6 v13

OUR MEMBERS AS INSTRUMENTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. ORIGEN: Note carefully the subtle distinctions which Paul makes here. When he talks about yielding to sin, he does not talk about us but about our members. However, when he talks about yielding to God, it is not our members which he mentions but our very selves. By this he means that we must give our souls and our whole persons to God so that, as we present ourselves before him as godly people and cling to him, we shall be making our members instruments of righteousness at the same time. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

SUSTAINING A DISPOSITION OF URGENCY. BASIL: This injunction would be successfully carried out, I believe, if we were willing always to keep the same disposition of mind as we had at the time of danger. For surely we realized to some degree the vanity of life, as well as the unreliability and instability of human affairs, which change so easily. And in all likelihood we felt contrition for our past faults and promised that for the future, if we were saved we would serve God with watchful exactitude. LETTER 26.

PROTECTING OUR MEMBERS FROM ABUSE. AMBROSIASTER: Paul shows that the devil fights against us by using our members. For the opportunity is given to him by our sins, so that when God abandons us he acquires the power to deceive and destroy us. Therefore we must protect our members from every work of iniquity so that our enemy may be left defenseless and subdued. Paul did not say: “Present your bodies,” but “Present your members,” for a person goes wrong when his members and not his whole body lead him wherever sin dictates.

“Death” in this context means ignorance and unbelief, combined with an evil life, because “life” is to know God through Christ. Just as nobody acquires life without a parent, everyone has obtained life through Christ.Therefore whoever does not recognize that God is the Father of all through Christ is said not to have life, i.e., what he has here on earth does not count as life. For such a person denies himself as long as he thinks he can live without God as his Father. Therefore ignorance and a wicked life are death. For wickedness obtains death, not the death which is common to us all but the death of hell, as I mentioned above. Likewise, knowledge of God the Father and holy behavior are life, not that life which is subject to death but the life of the world to come which is called eternal. For this reason Paul says that you should present yourselves to God, for by knowing him you will go on to salvation. Having turned away from an evil life you will be like people who have risen from the dead.

Such great modesty ought to govern our conduct that our behavior will lead to the righteousness of God, not to earthly righteousness. For the righteousness of this world is without faith in Christ, and without that it is death, not life. Let us then yield our members to him so that he can defend us. For when we yield our members to him through good works, we make ourselves worthy to be aided by God’s righteousness, because that righteousness is not given to those who are unworthy to receive it. Where God’s righteousness is, there the Holy Spirit dwells and helps our infirmity. Just as we yield our members to sin when we act wrongly, so we yield them to righteousness when we behave rightly, protecting them from all wickedness. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE BODY NOT EVIL IN ITSELF. CHRYSOSTOM: The body, like a military weapon, is not in itself inclined to either vice or virtue. It can go either way, depending on the user. … The flesh becomes either good or evil according to the mind’s decision, not because of its own nature. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 11.

FREELY OFFERING YOUR MEMBERS TO SERVICE. PELAGIUS: 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. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THEODORET OF CYR: By telling us to yield our members to God as instruments of righteousness, Paul teaches that the body is not evil but the creation of a good God. Therefore if it is properly and correctly controlled by the soul it can serve God. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

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