ACC ~ Romans 7 v8

THINGS FORBIDDEN ARE DESIRED MORE. ORIGEN: I do not know why it is, but things which are forbidden are desired all the more. Thus it happened that although the commandment is holy and just and good, since because it forbids evil it must be good, yet in forbidding covetousness it provoked and inflamed it all the more, with the result that something good wrought death in me. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

DIODORE: By “sin,” Paul presumably means the devil. For just as Scripture sometimes calls the Savior “life” and “righteousness” because he is the source of life and righteousness, so it calls the opposing power by what it causes—sometimes “sin,” sometimes “lie,” sometimes “death.”PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

ALL KINDS OF COVETOUSNESS. AMBROSIASTER: By “all kinds of covetousness” Paul means every sin. [In the last verse] he mentioned covetousness according to the law, and now by adding other sins he shows that all covetousness works in man by the impulse of the devil, whom he calls “sin,” so that the law was given to man to promote the opposite. For when the devil saw the help provided by the law for man, whom he was delighted to have snared as much by his own sin as by the sin of Adam, he realized that this was done against him. For when he saw man placed under the law he knew that he would escape from his control, for now man knew how to escape the punishment of hell. For this reason his wrath was kindled against man, in order to turn him away from the law and get him to do what was forbidden, so that he would again offend God and fall back into the devil’s power.

“Apart from the law sin lies dead.” This is to be understood in two ways. First, you should realize that the devil is meant when the word sin is used and that it also refers here to sin itself. The devil is said to have died because before the law came he did not conspire to deceive man and was quiet, as if unable to possess him. But, second, “sin was also dead,” because it was thought that it would not be reckoned by God. For that reason it was dead as far as natural man was concerned, as if he could sin without being punished. In fact sin was not absent, as I have already indicated, but this was not realized until it became clear by the giving of the law, i.e., that sin would revive. But how could it revive unless it had previously been alive and after the fall of man was thought to be dead when in fact it was still living? People thought that sin was not being reckoned to them, when in fact it was. Thus something which was alive was assumed to be dead. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

SIN FINDS OPPORTUNITY IN THE COMMANDMENT. CHRYSOSTOM: Note how Paul clears the law of all blame. It was sin which took advantage of the commandment and not the law, which increased the covetousness and brought about the opposite of what the law intended. This was caused by weakness rather than by wickedness. For when we desire something but are prevented from obtaining it, all that happens is that the flame of our desire is increased. It was not the law’s fault, because the law hindered us and did what it could to keep us away from desire. It was sin, i.e., our own laziness and bad disposition, which used what was good for the opposite. It was not the fault of the physician but rather of the patient who used the medicine wrongly. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 12.

SIN LIES DEAD. AUGUSTINE: Not every sort of lust existed before the prohibition increased it. For since the prohibition increases lust when the Deliverer’s grace is missing, it is clear that not all lust existed beforehand. But when, in the absence of grace, lust was forbidden, it grew so much that it reached its own kind of completeness, to the point that it appeared in opposition to the law and added criminal offense to the transgression. When Paul says: “Apart from the law sin lies dead,” he does not mean that it does not exist but rather that it lies hidden. He makes this clear [in verse 13]. The law is therefore good, but without grace it only reveals sins; it does not take them away. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 37.

AUGUSTINE: By “sin lies dead,” Paul means that it is “latent” in us. TO SIMPLICIAN ON VARIOUS QUESTIONS 1.4.

AUGUSTINE: By “sin is dead” the apostle means that it is not “imputed” to us. QUESTIONS 66.4.

SIN DOES NOT LIVE WHERE THERE IS NO LAW. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Just as light in the darkness reveals stumbling stones and pitfalls, similarly the law, by decreeing what must be observed, shows sinners what their sins are, and for this reason we say that the law is good and holy. If sin were dead when there was no law, those who say that sin has come to us by inheritance from Adam would be mad. But Paul says sin was dead because it does not “live” in children, who are without the law, i.e., it is committed without incurring blame. For a child who curses his parents has sinned, but this sin is “dead,” not “alive,” because it does not count in his case. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Paul says that without the law to define it sin would not be effective. Why? Because it is not the deed by itself which is sin but rather doing something when you know that it is wrong. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

SINNING IGNORANTLY AND KNOWINGLY. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: I think that what Paul means here is something like this: Even though the person who sins in ignorance is guilty, there will be a harsher punishment for the one who sins knowingly. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

SEVERIAN: It is not reasonable to condemn completely someone who has sinned in ignorance. But when the law was given and revealed sin, it gave sin power. This was not a condemnation of the law but a punishment of the contempt shown by those who did not keep it. For if it is true that without the law sin lies dead, it is also true that sin is dead when the law is kept. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

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