ACC ~ Romans 7 v14

THE TEACHER MAY PLAY THE PART OF A WEAK PUPIL (SOLD UNDER SIN). ORIGEN: Someone who is carnal and sold under sin does not know that the law is spiritual, so how can Paul say this of himself? In fact, when he says that he is carnal and sold under sin he is playing the part of a teacher of the church by taking on the role of the weak, as he said elsewhere: “I became weak to the weak, so that I might win the weak.”

We are taught by the Psalms that it was the custom in Holy Scripture for holy men to take on the role of sinners and for teachers to assume the weaknesses of their pupils: “I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning. For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am utterly spent and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

LAW GIVEN BY THE SPIRIT. DIODORE: The law is spiritual and makes the person who keeps it spiritual as well. It was given by the Holy Spirit so that those who obeyed it might receive the Spirit and be cleansed by the law’s teaching. Paul was not sold under sin by anyone else but by his own breaking of the law. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

PAUL SPEAKS OF MAN PRIOR TO FAITH. AMBROSIASTER: Paul is speaking here to those who were under the law. For they would not have submitted to it if they did not know that it was spiritual. … Paul calls man carnal, because he sins.

To be sold under sin means to trace one’s origin to Adam, who was the first to sin, and to subject oneself to sin by one’s own transgression. … For Adam sold himself first, and because of this all his descendants are subjected to sin.

The law is firm and just and without fault, but man is weak and bound either by his own or by his inherited fault, so that he cannot obey the law in his own strength. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL. CHRYSOSTOM: Not only does Paul clear the law of all blame; he bestows very great praise on it as well. For by calling it spiritual he shows that it is a teacher of virtue and hostile to vice, for this is what being spiritual means—taking people away from any kind of sin. This is what the law did by frightening, admonishing, chastening, correcting and recommending every kind of virtue. How then was sin produced, if the teacher was so admirable? It was from the laziness of the pupils. This is why Paul went on to say that he was carnal, giving us here the portrait of a man as he was under and before the coming of the law. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

AT ONE WITH THE LAW. AUGUSTINE: The law can only be fulfilled by spiritual men, and these only the grace of God can produce. For the man who has been made spiritual like the law will easily do what it commands. He will not be under the law but at one with it. He will also be someone who is not ensnared by temporal goods or frightened by temporal evils. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 41.

SOLD UNDER SIN. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: At this point Paul reverts to the role of a person who has attained his majority. For when he says: “The law is spiritual,” he condemns himself for sinning by the power of his own will. Thus he adds: “But I am carnal, sold under sin,” in order to show that although he is free, he has sold himself to sin. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

PELAGIUS: Paul says he was carnal because, although he accepted the law, he was in the habit of living carnally. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THE STRUGGLE OF SPIRIT AND FLESH. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The will of the Spirit is one thing, that of the flesh is another. These two wills fight against each other and can never reach agreement. Man is carnal, but the law is spiritual. How then can the law ever become tolerable to those who struggle so hard against the sickness of sin? There is wisdom here, for if a man is carnal he is in some sense captive and reduced to the condition of slavery. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

IN PRAISE OF THE LAW. THEODORET OF CYR: Once again, Paul covers the law with praise. For what could be nobler than what he says about it here? He says in effect that the law was written by the Holy Spirit. Moses was given a share in his grace and thus wrote the law. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

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