ACC ~ Romans 8 v1 - 4

OVERVIEW:

Christ has released us from condemnation. We now live according to the law of the Spirit, which is the law of God. We not only are forgiven sin but also are given the power to continue to overcome it in Christ. Paul’s argument that Christ came “in the likeness of sinful flesh” caused the Fathers considerable concern. On the one hand they wanted to insist, against any hint of Docetism, that Christ was a real human being in a real human body. But on the other hand they also wanted to insist that he was without sin himself. Augustine put it most succinctly: Christ had a human body that was mortal, but he was without sin. Once the law’s power is removed it becomes a friend to the faithful, and they desire to fulfill it in its spiritual sense. The Fathers were concerned to underline that the Christian life is not one of license but one of consecration to righteousness.

8:1 | No Condemnation for Those in Christ

THOSE WHOLLY IN CHRIST HAVE IN THEM NOTHING WORTHY OF CONDEMNATION. ORIGEN: After having taught what conflict there is in those who are caught in the struggle between a mind which lives according to the law of God and the desires of the flesh which lead them into sin, Paul now goes on to talk not about those who are partly in the flesh and partly in the Spirit but about those who are wholly in Christ. He declares that there is nothing in them worthy of condemnation. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

THOSE WHO DO NOT WALK ACCORDING TO THE FLESH. DIODORE: Paul shows here that those who are under the law, because they live according to the flesh, are under sin and condemnation. But those who are in Christ are not under condemnation because they do not walk according to the flesh. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

SERVING GOD WITH A DEVOUT MIND. AMBROSIASTER: It is true that there will be no damnation for those who are Christians serving the law of God with a devout mind. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

IN CHRIST WE HAVE THE POWER TO AVOID POSTBAPTISMAL SIN. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul met the difficulty posed by postbaptismal sin by saying that it is due to our laziness. For now that we are in Christ Jesus we have the power to avoid walking after the flesh, but before that it was a difficult task. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

AUGUSTINE: There is no condemnation just because carnal desires exist; it is only if we give in to them and sin that we are condemned. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 47.

PELAGIUS: There is nothing which deserves condemnation in those who have been crucified to the works of the flesh. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: Look how great Christ’s grace is in that he has set us free from condemnation. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

8:2 | The Law of the Spirit Sets Us Free

THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE. ORIGEN: The law of the Spirit of life is the same thing as the law of God. … For to serve the law of God and to be under the law of the Spirit is to serve Christ. To serve Christ is to serve wisdom, which is to serve righteousness, which is to serve truth and all related virtues. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN JESUS CHRIST. AMBROSIASTER: Paul holds out security for us by the grace of God, so that we should not be tempted by the suggestions of the devil as long as we reject them. … We shall instead be rewarded if we repel the counsels of that sin which remains in us, for it demands great skill to avoid the tricks of the enemy within. “The law of the Spirit of life is the law of faith.” For even the law of Moses is spiritual in that it forbids us to sin, but it is not the law of life. It has no power to pardon those who are guilty of the sins which merit death and thus to bring them back to life. . . .Therefore it is the law in Christ Jesus, that is to say, through faith in Christ, which frees the believer from the law of sin and death. The law of sin, which Paul says dwells in our members, tries to persuade us to sin, but the law of Moses is a law of death, because it puts sinners to death. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

CHRYSOSTOM: “The law of the Spirit of life” is just a way of saying “the Spirit. “ For as he calls sin the “law of sin,” so he also calls the Spirit the “law of the Spirit.” But Paul also called the law of Moses “spiritual.” What is the difference? It is great! For the law of Moses was spiritual, but here we are dealing with the law of the Spirit. … The law of Moses was merely given by the Spirit, but this one gives those who receive it a large measure of the Spirit himself. This is why Paul called it the law of life, in opposition to the law of sin, not to the law of Moses. For when he says that it freed him from the law of sin and death, it is not the law of Moses which he has in mind, because he never calls it the law of sin. In any case, how could he have done so since he had called it “just and holy” on so many other occasions, and destructive of sin as well? Rather, the law of sin is the force which wars against the law of the mind. The grace of the Spirit put a stop to that war by slaying sin and making the contest light for us, putting a victor’s crown on our heads at the beginning and then drawing us into the struggle with enough help to win it. Then, as he always does Paul turns from the Spirit to the Son and the Father, showing that we are dependent on the entire Trinity. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

[PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Those who are in Christ do not serve the lusts of the flesh, and therefore they are not bound to be condemned. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

PELAGIUS: Note that Paul calls the law “grace.” PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

SET FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The apostle says that the resurrection takes place by the working of the Spirit. … Paul calls the Spirit the “Spirit of life” because the Spirit is the firstfruits of the eternal life which we shall then enjoy. The Spirit has been given to us in the hope of immortality, and faith in Christ has permitted us to enjoy him, because he has set us free from death and sin. Clearly Paul is using the things which are to come as evidence for what has been promised to us in Christ. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

LEADING A LIFE OF HOLINESS. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: I think it is necessary for an accurate explanation of the meanings which are found here, to say this: Paul calls the lusts of the flesh which lead us into all kinds of wickedness “the law of sin and death.” So also he calls the spiritual will, that is, the inclination of the mind to do what is right, “the law of the Spirit of life.” … This law has not set us free by itself; rather it has restored us to freedom by the merits of Christ. Just as those who have sinned under the law have necessarily been trapped by the snares of death as well, so it is necessary also that those who are not under the law but who have been set free by Christ should lead lives of holiness and show themselves to be above corruption, because they are no longer under the law of death. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: We have been made heirs of a pain-free and immortal life by the free gift of the Spirit and have all become spiritual, being set free from sin and the death which it causes. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

8:3 | The Son Sent in the Likeness of Sinful Flesh

HIS FLESH NOT ILLUSORY. TERTULLIAN: If the Father “sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,” it must not be said that the flesh in which he appeared was illusory. … The Son was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh in order to redeem our sinful flesh by a like substance, even a fleshly one, which bore a resemblance to sinful flesh although it was itself free from sin. AGAINST MARCION 5.14.

WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO. ORIGEN: In my opinion, Paul here as in many other passages divides the law of Moses into two parts, one of which is carnal and the other spiritual. Moreover, he calls the literal observance of the law its carnal meaning. … This observance is both impossible and inadequate. For what is more impossible than observance of the sabbath according to the letter of the law? For it is commanded that no one should go outside his house, nor move away from his place, nor carry any burden. When the Jews, who observed the letter of the law, realized that these things were impossible, they glossed the law in silly and ridiculous ways. … And what can I say about the system of sacrifices, which is now totally impossible to observe since there is no temple, no altar and no place to perform the sacrifices? In these instances I would say that the law is not just impossible or inadequate; it is dead!

Paul shows that Jesus had the likeness of sinful flesh but not that he had sinful flesh in the same way we do. For we are all human beings who have been born from the seed of a man who has slept with a woman, and we can only say, along with David, that: “In sin my mother conceived me.” But the one who was born without contact with a male but only because the Holy Spirit came upon a virgin and covering her with the power of the Most High gave birth to a spotless body which had the same nature as ours but without the corruption of sin which is passed on by the act of conception. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: Because God has done what the law could not do, we reject Jewish customs on the ground that they were not meant for us and that it is impossible to accommodate them to the needs of the Gentiles, while we gladly accept that the Jewish prophecies contain predictions about ourselves. PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 1.7.

GOD SENT HIS SON IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH. AMBROSIASTER: For whom was this impossible? For us of course, because we could not fulfill the commandment of the law, since we were subject to sin. For this reason God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. It is the likeness of our flesh because, although it is the same as ours is, it was sanctified in the womb and born without sin, neither did he sin in it. Therefore the womb of a virgin was chosen for the divine birth so that the divine flesh might differ from ours in its holiness. It is like ours in origin but not in sinfulness. For this reason Paul says that it is similar to our flesh, since it is of the same substance, but it did not have the same birth, because the body of the Lord was not subject to sin. The Lord’s flesh was sanctified by the Holy Spirit in order that he might be born in the same kind of body as Adam had before he sinned. By sending Christ God used sin to condemn sin. … For Christ was crucified by sin, which is Satan; hence sin sinned in the flesh of the Savior’s body. In this way, God condemned sin in the flesh, in the very place where it sinned. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

HIS FLESH LIKE OURS, EXCEPTING SIN. CHRYSOSTOM: Again it appears as if Paul is criticizing the law, but in reality he is harmonizing it with Christ. The problem with the law was that it was too weak to accomplish what it intended. … And even the law’s weakness was not its fault but the fault of the flesh, by which he means not the substance itself but the carnal mind.

Just because Paul says that Christ came “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” you must not think that his flesh was any different from ours. It was because he called it “sinful” that he added the word “likeness.” For Christ did not have sinful flesh but flesh which, though it was like ours by nature, was sinless. From this it is plain that flesh is not sinful by nature. It was not by taking on a different kind of flesh nor by changing ours into something different that Christ caused it to gain the victory over sin and death. Rather, he allowed the flesh to keep its own nature, giving it the crown of victory and after its resurrection life immortal. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

HE CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH. AUGUSTINE: Here Paul clearly teaches that the precepts of the law were not fulfilled (though they should have been) because those who had the law before grace were given over to worldly goods, from which they were trying to get happiness. Nor did they have any fear except when adversity threatened these goods, and when that happened they easily withdrew from the precepts of the law. Therefore the law grew weaker as its commands went unheeded. This was not the fault of the law but came about through the flesh, because those who went after worldly goods did not love the righteousness of the law but put temporal advantage ahead of it.

And so our deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ, took on mortal flesh and came in the likeness of the flesh of sin. For death is the reward due to the flesh of sin. Of course the Lord’s death was voluntary and not something which he owed. Yet nevertheless the apostle calls the assumption of mortal flesh “sin” even if it was sinless, because when the Savior died he was made sin, so to speak.

But “he condemned sin in the flesh,” for the Lord’s death ensured that death would not be dreaded, that worldly goods would not be sought and that worldly evils would not be feared by those who had previously been wise in the ways of the world and thus unable to fulfill the commands of the law. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 48.

AUGUSTINE: The reason why grace was bestowed on us through our mediator is that we who were polluted by sinful flesh might be purified by the “likeness of sinful flesh.” THE CITY OF GOD 10.22.

DISTINGUISHING SINFUL FLESH AND THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH. AUGUSTINE: What does sinful flesh have? Death and sin. What does the likeness of sinful flesh have? Death without sin. If it had sin it would be sinful flesh; if it did not have death it would not be the likeness of sinful flesh. As such he came—he came as Savior. He died but he vanquished death. In himself he put an end to what we feared; he took it upon himself and he vanquished it—as a mighty hunter he captured and slew the lion. SERMONS FOR EASTER SEASON, HOMILY 233.3.

HE ASSUMED OUR FLESH. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Paul says here that because of the weakness of the flesh the law could not be fulfilled. When he says: “God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,” he shows that the Son existed before the incarnation and that he took on flesh which was later bound by sin, though he himself assumed it without sin. Therefore it is said that he came in the likeness of sinful flesh, having assumed flesh, and that he condemned sin in that same flesh, because the flesh which he assumed was holy and free from all knowledge of sin. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

THE ANALOGY OF SACRIFICIAL VICTIMS BEING GIVEN IN THE NAME OF SIN. PELAGIUS: The law was weakened in the flesh, not in itself. In saying “God sent his Son” Paul counters Photinus, who denied the Son’s existence before the incarnation. … The Son took flesh like that of the rest of humanity and “he condemned sin in the flesh,” i.e., he overcame like by like. Just as the sacrificial victims which the Jews offered under the law were given in the name of sin, although they had no sin themselves … so also Christ’s flesh, which was offered for our sins, took the name of sin. Some people say that by the sin of the Jews, whereby they killed the Lord, Christ condemned in his humanity the sin of the devil, by which the devil had deceived mankind, as Paul says to the Hebrews: “so that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death.” Or it may mean that through the substance of that flesh which previously was a slave to sin, Christ conquered sin by never sinning himself, and in his flesh he condemned sin to show that it was the will which was on trial, not human nature, which God created in such a way that it could avoid sinning. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

WHETHER CHRIST’S BODY WAS MADE OF SINFUL FLESH. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: God forbid that Paul should ever say that Christ’s body was made of sinful flesh! Rather, it was in the likeness of sinful flesh, for although it was similar to our bodies it can scarcely be compared with them in the sense that it could not be ill with carnal uncleanness. Even from the womb Christ’s body was a holy temple, and no one is afraid to state that in so far as it was flesh, when it attained the age of reason it behaved in the way flesh normally does. Nevertheless, because the Word which sanctifies all things dwelt in his body, the potential for sin was condemned so that the fruit of this blessing might come across into us as well. For we have been transformed into his likeness, not only in spirit but in body also. When Christ dwells in us by the Holy Spirit and the sacramental blessing, then the law of sin is really condemned in us. So it is truly said that what was impossible for the law, which had been weakened by the flesh, became possible through Christ, who condemned and destroyed sin in the flesh so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

THE SAME NATURE AS WE. THEODORET OF CYR: Christ came “in the likeness of sinful flesh” because, although he took on human nature, he did not assume human sinfulness. … For although he had the same nature as we have, he did not have the same outlook or the same thoughts. For although the law could not accomplish its purpose on account of the weakness of those to whom it was given (for they had a mortal and passible nature), the only begotten Word of God broke the power of sin by taking on human flesh and fulfilled all righteousness, not giving in to the temptations of sin in any way. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

REMAINING WITHOUT SIN. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: By taking upon himself flesh from a sinful substance while remaining without sin, Christ fulfilled all righteousness and condemned sin in the body. This is proved by his conflict with the spirit in the desert, for the devil is overcome not by sheer divine majesty but by a reminder of the commandment, by fasting and by a legal reply. SERMON 11.3.

BEDE: He who came in the likeness of sinful flesh—not in sinful flesh—did not turn away from the remedy by which sinful flesh was ordinarily made clean. … Not from necessity but by way of example he submitted to the water of baptism, by which he wanted the people of the new law of grace to be washed from the stain of sin. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL 1.11.

8:4 | Walking According to the Spirit

THREE WAYS BY WHICH GOD CONDEMNED SIN. AMBROSIASTER: Paul says that sin has been condemned in order that the righteousness of the law given by Moses might be fulfilled in us. For once removed from the power of the law we become the law’s friends. Those who have been justified are friends of the law. For how is this righteousness fulfilled in us unless the forgiveness of sins is given to us, so that once we have been justified by the removal of our sins we might serve the law of God with our minds? This is what it means to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. The devotion of the mind, which is the spirit, will not succumb to the desire of sin, which sows lusts in the soul by means of the flesh because sin dwells in it. But if sin has been condemned, how can it be indwelling?

Sin has been condemned by the Savior in three different ways. In the first place, he condemned sin in that a person should turn away from it and not sin. Next, sin is said to have been condemned on the cross, because it enacted sin itself. The power by which it held people in hell because of Adam’s sin was then taken away. After that it would no longer dare to hang onto anyone who had been signed with the sign of the cross. In the third place, God condemned sin by canceling it out in the case of those who had received forgiveness for their sins. For although a sinner ought to be condemned for his sin, God forgave him and condemned the sin in him instead. So if we follow our Savior’s example and do not sin, we are condemning sin. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

GUARDING THE TREASURE. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul shows that it is not only binding on us to keep ourselves from evil deeds but also to be adorned with good. For to give the crown is his prerogative, but to retain it is your responsibility. For Christ has fulfilled the righteousness of the law on your behalf so that you are not subject to its curse. So do not betray so great a gift, but keep this great treasure under guard. For here Paul shows us that baptism will not save us if afterward we fail to display a life worthy of that gift. This is why he returns to the law and defends it. For once we have become obedient to Christ, we must use all ways and means so that its righteousness, which Christ fulfilled, may abide in us and not come to naught. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

WALKING ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT. AUGUSTINE: But since this worldly wisdom has been destroyed and removed in the Lord made man, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled when a man walks not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Whence it is most rightly said: “I came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. For love is the fulfilling of the law.” Love be-longs to those who walk according to the Spirit. For love belongs to the grace of the Holy Spirit. When there was no love of righteousness but only fear, the law was not fulfilled. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 48.

PELAGIUS: Although the law could not be fulfilled in those in whom carnal habit fights back, at least it can be fulfilled in us, who have mortified the flesh according to Christ’s example. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.