ACC ~ Romans 7 v23

TWO LAWS IN STRUGGLE. AMBROSIASTER: Paul mentions two laws here. One of these he sees in his members, i.e., in the outer self, which is the flesh or the body. This law is hostile to us. It wars with his mind, leading him captive in a state of sin and preventing him from getting out of it and finding help. The other law is the law of the mind, which is either the law of Moses or the law of nature which is innate in the mind. This law is attacked by the violence of sin and by its own negligence, for in that it loves evil it subjects itself to sin and is held captive by the habit of sinning. For man is a creature of habit.

For Paul, there are here four kinds of law. The first is spiritual. This is the law of nature, which was reworked by Moses and made authoritative; it is God’s law. Then there is the law of the mind, which agrees with God’s law. Third, there is the law of sin, which is said to dwell in man’s members because of the transgression of the first man. The fourth appears in our members and tempts us to sin, before retreating. But these four laws can be reduced to two—the law of good and the law of evil. For the law of the mind is the same as the spiritual law or the law of Moses, which is called the law of God. But the law of sin is the same as the law which appears in our members, which contradicts the law of our mind. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

CHRYSOSTOM: Paul calls sin a law not because it establishes good order but because those who are under it obey it completely. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

THE MAN DESCRIBED NOT YET UNDER GRACE. AUGUSTINE: Everyone is bound by carnal habit to the law of sin. Paul says that this law wars against his mind and captures him under the law of sin, by which it may be understood that the man being described here is not yet under grace. For if carnal habit were merely to wage war but not to triumph, there would be no condemnation. Condemnation lies in the fact that we freely submit to and serve depraved carnal lusts. But if such lusts exist and we do not give in to them, then we are not en-snared by them, and are under grace instead. Paul speaks of this grace when he calls upon the Deliverer and pleads for his help, that love might accomplish by grace what fear could not achieve through the law. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 45-46.

ANOTHER LAW AT WAR. AUGUSTINE: In this life it cannot happen to anyone that a law warring against the law of the mind should be entirely absent from his members, because that law would still be waging war even if man’s spirit were offering it such resistance as not to fall into line with it. THE RETRACTIONS 1.19.1.

AUGUSTINE: Paul sees another law in his members fighting against the law of his mind. He sees it is there, not remembers that it was there. He is pressed by what is present, not recalling what is past. And he not only sees this law warring against him but even taking him captive to the law of sin, which is (not was) in his members. ON NATURE AND GRACE 55.65.

MAKING ME CAPTIVE. AUGUSTINE: Paul perceives imprisonment where righteousness has not been fulfilled; for when he is delighted with the law of God he is not a prisoner but a friend of the law and thus free, because he is a friend. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 41.11.1.

AUGUSTINE: Look what damage has been done to human nature by the disobedience of the will! ON NATURE AND GRACE 53.62.

OUR PRESENT FIGHT WITH DEAD SINS. AUGUSTINE: See what a fight we have with our dead sins, as that active soldier of Christ and faithful teacher of the church shows. For how is sin dead when it works many things in us while we struggle against it? What are these many things except foolish and harmful desires which plunge those who consent to them into death and destruction? And to bear them patiently and not give into them is a struggle, a conflict, a battle. And between what parties is this battle if not between good and evil, not of nature against nature but of nature against fault, which is already dead but still to be buried, that is, entirely healed? AGAINST JULIAN 2.9.32.

JEROME: If Paul feared the lusts of the flesh, are we safe? HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 41.

PELAGIUS: The law of natural conscience, or the divine law which resides in the mind, fights against habitual desires. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

I SEE IN MY MEMBERS ANOTHER LAW. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Paul was right to refer to his members here, because sin takes many forms according to the nature of our members. There are sins of the eyes, sins of the tongue, sins of other parts of the body as well. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

CAESARIUS OF ARLES: This law in me was born when the former law was transgressed; it was born, I repeat, when the former law was despised. SERMON 177.1.

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