ACC ~ Romans 7 v25

THE VOICE CONTINUES TO PLAY THE ROLE OF THE WEAK MAN IN A GRADUAL PROCESS. ORIGEN: Perhaps someone will say that here the apostle Paul abandons the role of the weak man, which he assumed in the preceding [verses], and talks directly about himself. For he says that he serves the law of God with his mind but the law of sin with his flesh, as if to imply that the power of sin is so great that even an apostle cannot escape it. Moreover, he also said elsewhere: “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”But someone who takes this interpretation seems to me to be inflicting every soul with despair, because then there would be nobody who did not sin in the flesh. In other words, everyone would be serving the law of sin in the flesh. Rather, it seems to me that here Paul maintains the role he has adopted and plays the part of the weak man, whom we have already described.

It appears that in this passage Paul is teaching us that the mortification of the flesh, of which he has already spoken, is not something which happens overnight but rather is a gradual process, because the force of habit is such and the attraction of sin is so great that, even though our mind may want to do what is right and has decided to serve the law of God, yet the lusts of the flesh continue to urge him to serve sin and obey its laws instead. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

I OF MYSELF SERVE THE LAW OF GOD. AMBROSIASTER: “The law of God” means both the law of Moses and the law of Christ. … A free mind which has been called back to good habits by the help of the Holy Spirit can repulse evil temptations. For it has recovered its power to resist the enemy. If it is no longer subject then Satan cannot appear uninvited. Flesh, though, has no judgment, nor is it able to discern anything, because it is brute nature. It cannot close the door to the enemy, nor can it come in and persuade the mind to do the opposite to what the mind intends.

Because man consists of both soul and flesh, the part which knows serves God and the part which is mute serves the law of sin. But if man perseveres in the form in which he was created, the enemy would have no power to reach the flesh and persuade it to act against the will of the soul. But because the whole man was not restored to his pristine state by the grace of Christ the sentence pronounced on Adam remains in force, for it would be unjust to abolish a sentence which was rightly pronounced. So although the sentence remains in force, a cure has been found by the providence of God, so that the salvation which man had lost by his own fault might be given back to him. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

EQUIPPED FOR STRUGGLES. CHRYSOSTOM: Christ not only set us free without demanding any payment for his services; he also equipped us for greater struggles in the future. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

WITH MY FLESH I SERVE THE LAW OF SIN. AUGUSTINE: Though his carnal desires still exist, the man who is renewed by grace by not giving in to sin does not serve them. With his mind he serves the law of God, even though with his flesh he serves the law of sin. Paul calls the law of sin the mortal condition which stems from the transgression of Adam, because of which we are born mortal. It is because the flesh has fallen that the lusts of the flesh entice us.AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 45-46.

UNDER GRACE BUT BATTLING STILL. AUGUSTINE: These are the words of one who is now under grace but still battling against his own lust, not so that he consents and sins but so that he experiences desires which he resists. AGAINST JULIAN 6.23.73.

CRUCIFYING THE FLESH. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Paul is right to thank God at this point, because what the law of Moses and the natural law did not teach was taught by our Lord Jesus Christ: to despise the world and to overcome evil. The blessed apostle teaches this when he says: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh, with its passions and desires.” Here again Paul is speaking in the role of the person who was previously under the law. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

PAUL STILL SPEAKS NOT OF HIMSELF BUT IN ANOTHER VOICE. PELAGIUS: Grace sets free the man whom the law could not free. Was Paul at this time not yet set free by the grace of God? Of course! This shows that here he is speaking of somebody else. He then reviews the main points in order to conclude his argument. In a sense the carnal person is made up of two people and is divided within himself. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

ASKING DELIVERANCE FROM SIN. LIBER GRADUUM: We should be eager to try to become without any sins, asking our Lord to deliver us from sin. LIBER GRADUUM 2.2.

THE RESURRECTED BODY FINALLY FREE. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord will free you from the body of this death; it will deliver you from the law of death. But … this is going to take place at the resurrection, when you will possess a body in which no evil inclination remains. SERMON 177.4.