ACC ~ Romans 7 v20

BY HIS OWN FAULT. AMBROSIASTER: Is the sinner compelled to sin by a power outside himself? Not at all. For it was by his own fault that these evil things began, for whoever binds himself to sin voluntarily is ruled by its law. Sin persuades him first, and when it has conquered him it takes control. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

WILLING AND RESPONSIBILITY REMAIN OURS. CHRYSOSTOM: Here Paul clears both the flesh and the soul from responsibility for sin, putting all the blame on the actions themselves. For if the soul does not want to sin it is cleared of guilt, and if it does not perform the action itself the body too is let off the hook. Everything may thus be blamed on the evil moral choice. The essence of the soul and body and that of choice are not the same, for the first two are God’s works and the third is a motion from within ourselves which may go in whatever direction we choose to let it. Of course, willing is natural and God-given, but willing in this way is from us and depends on our own mind. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

WHAT IS WILLED BECOMES HABIT. PELAGIUS: What was once an act of will has become so habitual that now it is involuntary. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

Rom