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.

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.

It is true that there will be no damnation for those who are Christians serving the law of God with a devout mind.

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.

There is no condemnation just because carnal desires exist; it is only if we give in to them and sin that we are condemned.^[1]

There is nothing which deserves condemnation in those who have been crucified to the works of the flesh.

Look how great Christ’s grace is in that he has set us free from condemnation.

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.

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.^[1] 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.

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?^[1] 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. ^[2] [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Those who are in Christ do not serve the lusts of the flesh, and therefore they are not bound to be condemned. ^[1]

Note that Paul calls the law grace.

The apostle says that the resurrection takes place by the working of the Spirit.^[1] . . . 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.

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,^[1] because they are no longer under the law of death.

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.

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.

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.

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.^[1]

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.

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.^[1] Rather, he allowed the flesh to keep its own nature, giving it the crown of victory and after its resurrection life immortal.

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.^[1] 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.

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.

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. ^[1] HE ^[1]

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.^[1] 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.

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.^[1] 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.

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.^[1]

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.^[1]

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.^[1]

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?^[1]

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.

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.^[1] 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.

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.^[1] Love be-longs to those who walk according to the Spirit. For love belongs to the grace of the Holy Spirit.^[2] When there was no love of righteousness but only fear, the law was not fulfilled.

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.

It is possible to think of those who have just recently been instructed in the faith and who are still little ones in Christ as carnal, for he calls those who have already believed by the Holy Spirit spiritual and those newly taught and not yet purified carnal.^[1] He speaks of these latter as carnal with good reason, for like the pagans they still mind the things of the flesh.

Those who live according to the flesh are the Jews, whom Paul says are Israel according to the flesh. They know what belongs to the law of the flesh because they interpret the law according to the flesh. Those who live according to the Spirit are the people whom Paul calls Jews in spirit, not in the letter.

Paul says this because whoever obeys the temptation which comes through the flesh knows what the things of the flesh are. . . . Those who live according to the Spirit are those who have stomped on the lusts of the flesh by attacking sin. They have put the world behind them and although they still walk in the flesh they do not struggle according to the flesh. Their glory is not from men but from God. Dwelling in these spiritual works, they know what the things of the Spirit of God are and walk in his commandments.

This is not meant to be a disparagement of the flesh. For as long as it keeps its place nothing untoward will happen. But if we let it have its own way in everything and allow the flesh to get out of hand, it will rise up against the soul and then destroy and corrupt everything. This is not because of its own nature but because it is out of proportion, and disorder will ensue.

Man is composed of spirit and flesh. When a man performs carnal deeds he is called flesh, but when he performs spiritual deeds he is called Spirit. For when one of these substances brings the other under its control, the subordinate substance in effect loses both its power and its name. For each substance desires what is connected and related to it.

Whoever interprets the law according to the flesh, i.e., according to the letter, does not come to Christ, who is life.

To set the mind on the Spirit is life. For error, imprudence and ignorance are impassioned, self-rebellious, self-contradictory. And because of this to set the mind on the flesh, which is imprudence, is death, because it does not know God. Therefore, to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

The wisdom of the flesh is death because sin is serious and it is through sin that this death comes. It is called wisdom, even though it is a foolish thing, because to worldly people sins against the law of God which are conceived, whether in thought or in deed, on the basis of what is visible appear as wisdom, especially because those who sin are full of energy and cleverness. The fact that they take so much trouble over it makes them appear wise, even though there is nothing more foolish than sinning. Moreover, there is yet another wisdom of the flesh which, puffed up as it is by earthly reasoning, denies the possibility of miracles. Therefore it laughs at the virgin birth and at the resurrection of the flesh. The wisdom of the Spirit, on the other hand, is true wisdom which leads to life and peace. . . . Paul did not say that the flesh is hostile but rather that the wisdom of the flesh is. The wisdom of the flesh means, in the first place, any argument about the unknown which men have come up with and, in the second place, a preference for what can be seen. Both these things are hostile to God because they make the Lord of the elements and the Creator of the world equal to what he has made and assert that nothing can happen unless there is a rational cause for it. For this reason they deny that God made a virgin give birth or that he raises the bodies of the dead. They say that it is absurd that God should do anything beyond what man can understand, and therefore he did not do it. . . . These people are so blinded that they do not see how greatly they are insulting God, for the work which he was pleased to do in order that his praise should be proclaimed they condemn and claim is unbelievable and absurd.^[1]

Paul says elsewhere that it is human wisdom to repay evil for evil.^[1] Such wisdom obtains death because it transgresses the commandment.^[2] But the wisdom of the Spirit enjoys peace now because it does not repay in kind, and in the future it will obtain eternal life.

Death is estrangement and punishment from God; life is immortality and peace is fellowship with him.

As long as the flesh lives . . . it is not possible for the pleasing and perfect will of God to be done expeditiously in the life of the believer.

Paul is not saying that it is impossible for a wicked person to become good but rather that it is impossible for one who continues in wickedness to be subject to God. For a person to change and become good and subject to God is easy. . . . If we give our souls up to the Spirit and persuade our flesh to recognize its proper position, we shall make our souls spiritual as well. But if we are lazy we shall make our souls carnal. For since it was not natural necessity which put the gift into us but freedom of choice, it now rests with us which way we shall choose to go.

Paul explains why he said hostile so that no one should think that there is some nature derived from an opposing principle which God did not create and which fights against him. An enemy of God is one who does not submit to his law and who behaves this way because of the wisdom of the flesh. This means that he seeks worldly goods and is afraid of worldly evils. The normal definition of wisdom is to seek what is good and avoid what is evil. Therefore the apostle is right to describe the wisdom of the flesh as the longing for goods which do not remain with a man and when there is a fear for losing those things which one day will have to be left behind anyway. Wisdom of this kind cannot submit to the law of God. It must be destroyed so that the wisdom of the Spirit, which does not place its hope in worldly goods nor is afraid of worldly evils, may take its place. For the one nature of the soul has both the wisdom of the flesh when it follows lower things and the wisdom of the Spirit when it chooses higher things, just as the one nature of water freezes in the cold and melts in the heat.

The flesh is not in itself hostile to God, as the Manichaeans say, but the carnal mind is. For everything which is not subject is hostile, and anyone who wants to clear himself may sometimes go beyond the limit of the old law. Paul says that this carnal wisdom can never be subject to the law of God in order to call men back from the desires of the flesh.

The apostle does not reject the substance of flesh but shows that the Spirit must be infused into it.

In these and in similar statements it is not the substance of the flesh which is censured but its actions.

The wise of this world are in the flesh because they cling to their wisdom, by which they reject God’s law. For whatever goes against the law of God is of the flesh, because it is of the world. For the whole world is flesh and every visible thing is assigned to the flesh.

Are we to cut our bodies to pieces in order to please God? Should we become murderers in order to practice virtue? You see what inconsistencies result if we take these words literally! What Paul means by the flesh in this passage is not the essence of the body but a life which is carnal and worldly, serving self-indulgence and extravagance to the full.

Why is this? Is not the speaker himself clad in flesh? Paul does not mean that those clad in flesh are incapable of pleasing God but rather those who put no store by virtue, whose thoughts are totally carnal and who are caught up in pleasures of that kind, paying no attention to their soul, which is incorporeal and intellectual.

If all who are carnal cannot please God, how does Paul himself, the speaker, please God? How do Peter and the other apostles and saints, whom we cannot deny were carnal, please him? . . . It is because they—and we—do not live according to the flesh. We . . . walk about on the earth, it is true, but we are hastening on our way to heaven, for here we do not have a lasting place, but we are wayfarers and pilgrims, like all our fathers.^[1]

In the same way, snow cannot tolerate heat. For when snow is heated it melts; it becomes warm as water, but no one can then call it snow.

This proves that Paul did not find fault with the flesh itself but with the works of the flesh, because those to whom he was writing were undoubtedly living in the flesh in the physical sense. Once one has given himself over to the flesh (in the spiritual sense) it is impossible to avoid sin.

Paul is not telling us to leave the body but to be set free from the wisdom of the flesh. What this means, he tells us in the following verses.

Is the Spirit of God somehow different from the Spirit of Christ, or are the two one and the same? As far as I can follow the logic of this passage, not to mention what the Savior says of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel, viz., that he proceeds from the Father^[1] and he receives of me, ^[2] to which he adds by way of explanation: Father, everything which is mine is yours, and everything which is yours is mine; wherefore I said, that he receives of me.^[3] When, I say, I consider the logic of this unity between the Father and the Son, it seems to me that the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are one and the same Spirit.

We can understand this to mean that someone who is not of such a character as to deserve to have the Spirit of Christ is not recognized as belonging to him. . . . It may also be understood to mean that anyone who does not act in the Spirit, who is not prepared for righteousness, for truth, for the proclamation of the Word of God, for the preaching of the kingdom of heaven, for rejecting the letter of the law and for opening up its spirit, for resisting sin, for everything which will prevent him from coming to death, is not Christ’s disciple.

Those who are said to be in the Spirit are not in the flesh if they agree with the apostle John and do not love the world.^[1] . . . Paul speaks somewhat ambiguously because those who have been inducted into the law do not yet have a perfect faith, although Paul saw a hope of perfection in them. For this reason he sometimes speaks to them as if they are perfect and sometimes as if they are yet to become perfect. This is why sometimes he praises them and sometimes he warns them, so that if they maintain the law of nature according to what has been said above they will be said to be in the Spirit, because the Spirit of God cannot dwell in anyone who follows carnal things.^[2]

Here Paul says that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, for everything which belongs to the Father belongs to the Son as well. Therefore he says that whoever is subject to the above-mentioned sins does not belong to Christ. Such a person does not have the Spirit of God, even if he has accepted that Christ is God’s Son. For the Holy Spirit abandons people for one of two reasons, either because they think carnally or because they act carnally. Therefore he exhorts them to good behavior by the things which he commands. ^[3] [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Here Paul reveals that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of both the Father and the Son. ^[1]

Some things are good, some are bad and some are indifferent. The soul and the flesh both belong to things indifferent, since each of these may become either good or bad. But the spirit belongs to things which are good and can never become anything else. Likewise, the mind of the flesh, i.e., wickedness, belongs to things which are always bad.

You are not in the flesh not because you are not clad in flesh but because in spite of being clad in flesh you rise above the thinking of the flesh.

You are in the Spirit because you are occupied with spiritual things. The Spirit of God dwells in those in whom his fruit is manifest, as Paul says to the Galatians: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, etc.^[1] The Spirit of Christ, who loved his enemies and prayed for them, is the Spirit of humility, patience and all the virtues.^[2] PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.^[3] OECUMENIUS: The Spirit is common to the Father and the Son.

By Spirit of God Paul here refers to the spiritual gifts of the New Testament.

Paul asserts that the bodies of those whom the Holy Spirit has abandoned be-cause of sin are dead, nor does the feeling of their murder touch him, i.e., the Spirit. For the Spirit of God cannot sin. He is given for righteousness in order to make people righteous by his assistance. If a believer returns to the life of the flesh, the Holy Spirit will leave him and he will die in his unrighteousness. In saying the body Paul means that the whole person will die because of sin.

Paul is not saying here that the Spirit is Christ but is showing rather that anyone who has the Spirit has Christ as well. For where the Spirit is, there Christ is also. Wherever one person of the Trinity is present, the whole Trinity is present too. For the Trinity is undivided and has a perfect unity in itself.

Paul calls the body dead because it is mortal. Furthermore, it is because of this mortality that the lack of earthly things troubles the soul and arouses certain desires, to which the man who serves the law of God in his mind does not submit and sin.

Paul shows that both life and death exist in a man living in his body—death in his body, life in his spirit.

If you imitate Christ the carnal mind offers no resistance, because it is effectively dead. The spirit lives in order to produce righteousness, for the aim is not just to stop doing carnal things but to start doing spiritual ones.

Paul makes something which was doubtful clear and demonstrates that he is not attacking the flesh but sin. For he decreed that the body was dead to sin, i.e., that it should not sin. But here he calls the soul spirit, because it has already become spiritual. He commands it to follow after righteousness, whose fruit is the hope of eternal life.

But he who raised Christ up from the dead will raise us up also if we do his will and walk in his commandments and love what he loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil-speaking, false witness, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,^[1] or blow for blow, or cursing for cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in his teaching.

The resurrection of the dead implies the resurrection of their bodies.

If the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, it seems essential that his dwelling place (i.e., your body) will be given back to him and his temple restored.

This is how you can know whether you have the Spirit of Christ or not. Christ is wisdom,^[1] so if you are wise according to Christ and know what is his, then by this wisdom you have the Spirit of Christ. Likewise, Christ is righteous-ness;^[2] therefore, if you have the righteousness of Christ, by that righteousness you have the Spirit of Christ. Christ is peace;^[3] if you have Christ’s peace in you, then through the Spirit of peace you have the Spirit of Christ. So it goes with love, with sanctification and with all that belongs to Christ.^[4] The one who has these things may be confident of having the Spirit of Christ in him and can hope that his mortal body will be restored to life on account of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him.

Paul repeats here what he has just said. Once again, the word body stands for the whole person.

Having already mentioned the Spirit of Christ, Paul refers to him once more, calling him the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead. By saying that the Spirit of Christ is also the Spirit of the Father, Paul teaches clearly that the Spirit of the Son partakes of the Father’s divinity and that their power is one, because they share the same essence as the Father.

Here Paul touches once more on the resurrection, since this was the most encouraging hope to the hearer, giving him a sense of security from what happened to Christ. . . . Therefore do not let your body live in this world, so that it may be made alive in the next one! Make it die so that it may never die! For if it goes on living it will die, but if it dies now it will live forever. This is the case with resurrection in general. We must first die and be buried, and then we shall become immortal. This has already been done in baptism. . . . The man who is dead to this life is thus the one who is most truly alive.

Paul now explains the fourth of the four states^[1] which we mentioned above. But this state is not attained in this life. It belongs to the hope by which we await the redemption of our body, when this corruptible matter will put on incorruption and immortality.^[2] Then there will be perfect peace, because the soul will no longer be troubled by the body, which will be revived and transformed into a heavenly substance.^[3]

This is a very explicit witness to the resurrection of the body, and it is sufficiently clear that as long as we are in this life there will be no lack of both the annoyances occasioned by the mortal flesh and some excitations arising from carnal pleasures. For although he who is established under grace serves the law of God with his mind and does not yield, nevertheless, with the flesh he continues to serve the law of sin.

God will not allow the temple of his Spirit to perish. In the same way as he raised Jesus from the dead he will also restore your body.

God did not make us in his image in order for us to be bound to the service of the flesh but rather that our soul, serving its Creator, might make use of the service and ministry of the flesh for that purpose.

It is right and clear that we are not obliged to follow Adam, who lived according to the flesh, and who by being the first to sin left us an inheritance of sin.^[1] On the contrary, we ought rather to obey the law of Christ who, as was demonstrated above, has redeemed us spiritually from death. We are debtors to him who has washed our spirits, which had been sullied by carnal sins, in baptism, who has justified us and who has made us children of God.^[2]

Once again, Paul is not speaking here about the nature of the flesh. . . . For in many ways we are indebted to that. We have to give it food, warmth, rest, medicine, clothing and a thousand other things. In order to show us that this is not what he is talking about, Paul adds the words: to live according to the flesh. . . . It is not to take charge of our life. The flesh must follow, not lead, and it must receive the laws of the Spirit, not seek to control us.

The force of this whole argument is to show that the law, which was given for the carnally minded, is not necessary for those who are spiritual.

Since we have obtained salvation from Christ the Lord and have received the grace of the Spirit, we are obliged to serve him.

Paul does not prevent them from living their lives in the flesh, for he was himself in the flesh when he wrote to them, but he cuts away the lusts of the flesh which bring death upon a man.

Putting to death the deeds of the body works like this: Love is a fruit of the Spirit,^[1] but hate is an act of the flesh. Therefore hate is put to death and extinguished by love. Likewise, joy is a fruit of the Spirit,^[2] but sadness is of this world, and because it brings death it is a work of the flesh. Therefore it is extinguished if the joy of the Spirit dwells in us. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit,^[3] but dissension or discord is an act of the flesh; however, it is certain that discord can be eliminated by peace. Likewise the patience of the Spirit overcomes the impatience of the flesh, goodness wipes out evil, meekness does away with ferocity, continence with intemperance, chastity with license and so on.

By death and life, Paul does not mean physical death and life but the death of sin and eternal life, which everyone who is mature in the Spirit and who has put to death the works of the flesh will attain. But we must also realize that this mortification of the deeds of the flesh comes through patience—not suddenly but step by step. At first they start to wilt in those who have been converted, but then, as they progress in their faith and become more dedicated, the deeds of the flesh not only wilt, they start to die out. But when they reach maturity to the point that there is no longer any trace in them of any sinful thought, word or deed, then they may be reckoned to have completely mortified the deeds of the flesh and passed from death to life.

It is not strange that one who puts to death the deeds of the flesh will live, since one who has the Spirit of God becomes a son of God.^[1] It is for this reason that he is a son of God, so that he may receive not the spirit of slavery but the spirit of the adoption of sons, inasmuch as the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are sons of God.^[2]

Nothing is truer than this, that if we live according to Adam we shall die. For by sinning Adam was consigned to the flesh and sold himself to sin, for all sin is oriented to the flesh. . . . The body wants to be governed by the law of the spirit, which is why Paul shows that if we are led by the Holy Spirit the acts and desires of the flesh, which are made up by the instigation of the powers of this world, are repressed so as to be unable to act. Then we shall enjoy eternal life.

You can see from this that Paul is not talking about the essence of the body but about the evil deeds which it does. For if we stop doing evil deeds, then our physical bodies will live.

That we should mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit is required of us, but that we may live is offered to us. . . . Shall we therefore agree to say that the mortification of the flesh is not a gift of God and not confess it to be a gift of God, since we hear that it is required of us, with life offered as a reward to us if we have done it?

When by our spirit we put to death the works of the flesh we are impelled by the Spirit of God, which grants the continence by which we restrain, master and overcome concupiscence.

I have quoted this passage so that I might make use of the apostle’s words to deter your free will from evil and to exhort it to what is good. Nor should you on this account glory in man, i.e., in yourselves and not in the Lord. You are not living according to the flesh but are putting the deeds of the flesh to death by the Spirit. ^[1] YOU ^[1]

Carnal people cannot preserve righteousness. But you will live if you have replaced the works of the flesh with spiritual deeds. Note that it is the works which are condemned, not the substance of the flesh.

Paul does not say that we should mortify the flesh but the deeds of the flesh, that is, the wisdom of the flesh, the attacks of the passions. For we have the grace of the Spirit to help us. Eternal life is the fruit of victory.

The Spirit of God is the same as the Spirit of Christ and the same as the Holy Spirit. But he is also called the Spirit of adoption, as the apostle makes clear in this passage. David spoke of this Spirit also when he said: Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.^[1] There are many sons of God, as Scripture says: You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you,^[1] . . . but only one is the Son by nature, the only begotten of the Father, through whom all the rest are called sons. Likewise there are many spirits but only one who truly proceeds from God himself and who bestows on all the others the grace of his name and his sanctification. ^[2]

If we are the sons of God, if we have already begun to be his temples,^[1] if (after receiving the Holy Spirit) we live holily and spiritually, if we have lifted up our eyes from the earth toward heaven, if we have raised our hearts, full of God and Christ, to supernal and divine things, let us do nothing which is not worthy of God and Christ, as the apostle arouses and urges us.

Note the great honor here. For as believers we do not merely live in the Spirit; we are led by him as well. The Spirit is meant to have the same power over us as a pilot has over his ship or a charioteer over his horses. And it is not only the body but the soul also which is meant to be controlled in this way.

If you put your confidence in baptism to the point that you neglect your behavior after it, Paul says that, even if you are baptized, if you are not led by the Spirit afterward you will lose the dignity bestowed on you and the honor of your adoption. This is why he does not talk about those who received the Spirit in the past but rather about those who are being led by the Spirit now. ^[1] [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Those who live according to the teaching of the Holy Spirit are those who are led by the Spirit of God. ^[1]

This applies to all who are worthy to be governed by the Holy Spirit, just as (on the contrary) those who sin are moved by the spirit of the devil, who was a sinner from the beginning.^[1]

It is clear that these people will live the blessed life with their Father.

Since the Lord prepares the will, he also touches the hearts of his children with fatherly inspirations so that they might do good. . . . Consequently, we do not think that our free will is lacking, nor do we doubt that, in each and every movement of man’s free will, his help is the stronger force.

We have received the Spirit to enable us to know the one to whom we pray, our real Father, the one and only Father of all, that is, the one who like a Father educates us for salvation and does away with fear.

It is certain that whoever will become a son of God by the Spirit of adoption will first become a servant of God by the spirit of slavery. For the beginning of service to God is to be filled with the spirit of fear when still a little child [= new convert], since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.^[1] . . . As long as we remain children in the inner man we hold the Spirit in fear, until we reach the point at which we can rightfully receive the Spirit of adoption as sons and become like the Son and Lord of all. For Paul says: Everything is yours,^[2] and God has given us everything together with Christ. This is why Paul says that, after we have died together with Christ and after his Spirit comes into us, we no longer receive the spirit of slavery in fear (that is, we do not return to the state of children, and we have completed the first stages of faith), but rather like perfect people we have received the Spirit of adoption, in whom we cry: Abba! Father!

In reality, the spirit of slavery and the spirit of sonship were one and the same Spirit, who was given to people according to what they deserved, whether it was good or evil.

Paul says this because once we have received the Holy Spirit we are delivered from all fear of evil deeds, so that we might no longer act in such a way as to be afraid once more.^[1] Beforehand we were under fear, because once the law was given everyone was considered guilty. Paul called the law the spirit of fear because it made people afraid on account of their sins. But the law of faith, which is what is meant by the Spirit of sonship, is a law of assurance, because it has delivered us from fear by pardoning our sins and thus giving us assurance.^[2]

Set free by the grace of God from fear, we have received the Spirit of sonship so that, considering what we were and what we have become by the gift of God, we might govern our life with great care lest the name of God the Father be disgraced by us and we incur all the things we have escaped from. . . . We have received such grace that we can dare to say to God: Abba! Father! For this reason, Paul warns us not to let our trust degenerate into pride. For if our behavior does not correspond to our voice when we cry, Abba! Father! we insult God by calling him Father. Indeed, God in his goodness has indulged us with what is beyond our natural capacity.

Paul does not mention the spirit of freedom but passes immediately to the matter of sonship, which obviously includes freedom in it. That much is obvious. However, it is less clear what the spirit of slavery might be. What Paul says here is not only unclear, it is downright perplexing. For the Jews did not receive the Spirit. So what does he mean? It is the letter to which he gives this name, for it was also spiritual, which is why he calls the law, the water from the rock and the manna spiritual as well.^[1] . . . Paul uses the Hebrew word Abba to indicate that sonship given by the Spirit is true sonship.

The dispensations of the two Testaments are clearly different. The Old Testament is one of fear; the New Testament is one of love. But, you may ask, what is this spirit of slavery? If the spirit of our adoption as sons is the Holy Spirit, then the spirit of slavery to fear is the one which has the power of death. It is because of this fear that those who lived under the law and not under grace were condemned to slavery for their entire lives. Nor is it surprising that those who went after worldly goods received the spirit of slavery by divine providence . . . for this spirit of slavery has nobody in its power unless he has been handed over by the command of divine providence, since God’s righteousness gives every man his due.

The fear of slaves, although it renders belief to the Master, contains no love of righteousness but only the fear of damnation. The cry of sons is Abba, Father!—two words, one of which belongs to the circumcision and the other to the uncircumcision.

Paul is speaking of the fear which was inspired in the Old Testament, lest the temporal be lost which God had promised to those who were not yet his sons under grace but still servants under the law.

The Jews received a spirit which constrained them into service by means of fear. For it is the nature of slaves to fear and of sons to love, as it is written: The slave shall fear his master, and the son shall love his father.^[1] Those who were not willing to work out of the desire of love are compelled by the constraint of fear, but let us perform all things willingly so that we may show that we are sons. He who calls to his father declares himself a son. He ought therefore to resemble his father in character, lest he incur a greater penalty for having assumed the name of his father in vain.^[2]

The text should be read like this: You have not received the Spirit; instead you are again in fear of slavery. . . . The slavery in question is slavery to the law.^[1]

We have been enriched with God’s Spirit, for his Spirit has come to dwell in our hearts, and we have taken our place among the children of God and yet have not lost being what we are. For we are men according to nature, even though we cry: Abba! Father!

If he is the Spirit of adoption and makes men sons of God, how can he be considered a slave, since no slave can legitimately make another free?

Through the grace of baptism men can by receiving the Holy Spirit be changed from sons of the devil into sons of God.^[1]

The Spirit of adoption . . . bears witness and assures our spirits that we are children of God after we have passed from the spirit of slavery and come under the Spirit of adoption, when all fear has departed. We no longer act out of fear of punishment but do everything out of love for the Father. It is right too that the Spirit of God should be said to bear witness with our spirits and not with our souls, because the spirit is our better part.

Paul showed by this that he called the soul spirit when it was spiritual, and the gift of the Spirit Spirit.

The witness of children is that by the Spirit they should be seen to bear the sign of the Father.

This means that the Comforter bears witness with the gift which he has given us. For it is not merely the gift which speaks but the Comforter who gave the gift as well.

The evidence of our adoption is that we have the Spirit, through whom we pray in the manner mentioned above; for only sons could receive such a pledge.

Paul uses the word spirit in two senses. The first is the Spirit of God, the second is our spirit, i.e., through the grace which we have been given.

The Son of God says to his fellow heirs: You will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.^[1] Thus Christ leads his fellow heirs not only into a part of the inheritance but into a sharing of his power.

Here suffer with him does not mean that we should sympathize and come to the aid of the sufferer, as it usually does in everyday parlance. Christ did not suffer in order to get attention, nor did he undergo weakness in order to gain the sympathy of those who felt sorry for him. To suffer with Christ means to endure the same sufferings that he was forced to suffer by the Jews because he preached the gospel. . . . If we suffer with him we shall be worthy to be glorified with him as well. This glory is the reward of our sufferings and is not to be regarded as a free gift. The free gift is that we have received remission of our former sins.^[1]

Since there is no way that God the Father can be said to have died and Christ the Son is said to have died because of his having become flesh. How is it that he who died is always said to be the heir of the life, when heirs are normally heirs of the dead? But of course Christ died in his humanity, not in his divinity. For with God, which is where our inheritance lies, the Father’s gift is poured into his obedient children, so that one who is alive may be the heir of the Living One by his own merit and not by reason of death. . . . What it means to be a fellow heir with Christ we are taught by the apostle John, for among other things he says: We know that when he appears we shall be like him.^[1]. . .

To suffer together with Christ is to endure persecutions in the hope of future rewards and to crucify the flesh with its evils and lusts, i.e., to reject the pleasures and pomp of this world. For when all these things are dead in a man, then he has crucified this world, believing in the life of the world to come in which he believes that he will be a fellow heir with Christ.

Notice how Paul gradually increases the attraction of the gift. For it is quite possible to be a child without being an heir. . . . Nor are we simply heirs; we are fellow heirs with Christ. See how concerned Paul is to bring us ever nearer to the Son!

By spiritual regeneration we therefore become sons and are adopted into the kingdom of God, not as aliens but as his creatures and offspring.

He who is worthy to be a son is worthy to be made an heir of the Father and a coheir with the true Son. This happens if we are ready when it becomes necessary to suffer for him as he suffered for us.

Good works can hardly be done without suffering, yet the suffering of the saints is nourished by a great hope. For nothing earthly is promised but rather eternal glory.

As not every son is an heir of the one who procreated him, St. Paul rightly adds heredity to the adoption of sons. And given that a friend may often receive some inheritance from the Lord, Paul does not omit the word son but even adds that we are fellow heirs with Christ, thereby revealing his ineffable love for mankind. For not all those who have been blessed with saving baptism enjoy these good things, but only those who accept the fellowship of the Lord’s sufferings as well.