Commentary on Romans

Contents

Reading pages: 0.1–1.4 · 1.5–1.13 · 1.14–1.20 · 2.1–2.5 · 2.6–2.10 · 2.11–2.12 · 2.13 · 3.1 · 3.2–3.5 · 3.6–3.7 · 3.8–3.9 · 3.10–3.11 · 4.1–4.2 · 4.3–4.5 · 4.6–4.7 · 4.8–4.9 · 4.10–4.12 · 5.1 · 5.2–5.5 · 5.6–5.8 · 5.9 · 5.10–6.2 · 6.3–6.6 · 6.7–6.8 · 6.9–6.11 · 6.12–7.1 · 7.2–7.3 · 7.5–7.7 · 7.8–7.11 · 7.12–7.15 · 7.16–7.19 · 7.20–8.3 · 8.5–8.6 · 8.7–8.9 · 8.10–8.12 · 8.13–9.1 · 9.2–9.13 · 9.14–9.32 · 9.33–9.41 · 9.42–10.5 · 10.6–10.11 · 10.12–10.26 · 10.27–10.43

1. 0.1Rufinus's preface: at Heraclius's request he will translate Origen's fifteen books on Romans, filling gaps in the damaged text and abridging it to about half.
2. 0.2Origen's preface: Romans is hard because of its obscure style and its questions on free choice; Paul wrote it at his most perfect, from Corinth; Rufinus adds a discussion of why Saul is called Paul.
3. 1.1Paul calls himself a servant from humility and in imitation of Christ; in 1 Cor 7 the 'servant' is one bound in marriage, the 'freedman' the married believer free in virtue; full freedom comes only face to face.
4. 1.2'Called' is common to all believers, but not all the called are chosen: Judas, the disobedient prophet, and unworthy martyrs, virgins, shepherds and fasters.
5. 1.3Paul was set apart from the womb not by nature, as heretics claim, but because God foresaw his merits; foreknowledge precedes predestination without causing it; the Gospel of God is the Gospel of Christ.
6. 1.4The Gospel promised by the prophets may be distinguished from the 'eternal Gospel' of Revelation, which Christ may have proclaimed to angels and heavenly orders; the prophets abound in promises of the Gospel.
7. 1.5Christ was 'made' of David's seed according to the flesh but 'destined', not predestined, Son of God, for he always existed; his soul, united to the Word, is one spirit with him; his Davidic descent and his being Son of God from the resurrection are discussed.
8. 1.7Grace is for enduring labours and apostleship for the authority of preaching; Christ, the Apostle sent by the Father, shares both with his disciples, through whom the Gentiles came to faith.
9. 1.8Paul's greeting of grace and peace is a Spirit-given blessing like those of the patriarchs, received by the worthy; Origen notes how the greetings vary between the letters.
10. 1.9Paul's thanksgiving 'for all' signals praise rather than reproach; it is a sacrifice offered through Christ the High Priest; the Romans' faith is proclaimed on earth and in heaven.
11. 1.10God and his saints bear witness to each other; Paul serves God in his spirit, the best part of man, and the spirit of the law over its letter, as did the patriarchs and prophets.
12. 1.11Paul prays unceasingly and asks for a journey prosperous 'in the will of God', for not every prosperous journey, like Balaam's, is by God's will.
13. 1.12Visiting the brethren is apostolic only to give or receive spiritual gifts; marriage, wealth and power are gifts of God but not spiritual ones.
14. 1.13Origen resolves the hyperbaton and ellipsis of Rom 1:13–15; Paul's hindrance came from God's dispensation or from Satan; Paul gathers fruit from all as a branch of the true vine, and is debtor to all by the gifts of tongues, wisdom and patience.
15. 1.14Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel, God's saving power (his 'right hand'), perhaps Christ himself; his order 'Jew, Greek, barbarian' improves on the Greeks' division, since the Jews had laws first, and from God.
16. 1.15God's righteousness is revealed in that no one is excluded from salvation; 'from faith to faith' is from the Law to the Gospel; God's wrath is revealed against those, like the philosophers, who know the truth but hold it in unrighteousness.
17. 1.16The philosophers knew the truth by God's revealing but suppressed it; God's wrath is the power that punishes, revealed 'from heaven' against those who sin knowingly; God's knowable works are manifest, his nature unknown save as the Son reveals.
18. 1.17The philosophers, who study creation, could know God's eternal power and divinity from it; by seeking forms in God they lost God's image in themselves and fell into idolatry.
19. 1.18Against Marcion, God's 'giving up' of sinners to their desires is explained: the soul between flesh and spirit, helped by good or evil angels, freely chooses, and the virtues withdraw from the soul that chooses the flesh.
20. 1.19Origen discusses Paul's three 'givings up' (Rom 1:24, 26, 28) and proposes that all the causes and all the punishments be read together; those who judge others for what they do condemn themselves.
21. 1.20The three groups in Romans 1 are pagans, philosophers and heretics; believers who commit the same sins are no better; the 'image of man' passage also refutes the Anthropomorphites, for God's image is the inner man.
22. 2.1Only God judges according to truth, because he alone sees whether mind and deed agree; and he judges truly even in forgiving the baptized, the penitent, and martyrs, because a reformed soul is no longer the soul that sinned.
23. 2.2Paul's warning is aimed at the church's own leaders who judge others, for judgment begins with God's house, and no one should even wish to escape a judgment that is really a cure.
24. 2.3God's goodness is seen in his daily kindness to sinners, but his forbearance (toward the weak) and patience (toward the obstinate) have a fixed limit, so no one should delay repentance.
25. 2.4Hardness of heart refuses to do good and thickness of heart refuses spiritual understanding; every person stores up treasure in heaven, on earth, or in wrath; and the prophets show the 'day of wrath' to be the day of judgment.
26. 2.5All secrets will be revealed on the day of judgment, which is fixed at the world's end because the good and evil influence of the dead continues until then; God renders to each by works, not by nature; and Origen explains glory, honor, incorruption, and eternal life as the knowledge of God and Christ.
27. 2.6Paul says God 'will render' eternal life but does not say he renders wrath, because punishment comes from sinners' own deeds as sickness comes from intemperance, not from the doctor; contention is the worst sickness of the soul, and the narrow heart is the devil's lair while the enlarged heart is God's dwelling.
28. 2.7Jews come first for both punishment and reward because they knew God's will; Origen distinguishes Christians, who alone have eternal life, from unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, whose good works will still receive glory, honor, and peace, since believers too are judged for their deeds.
29. 2.8Origen asks which law Paul means (Moses, Christ, human laws, or natural law), argues that Christians are judged by the spiritual sense of the law, and notes that Scripture never says God destroys anyone: people perish by their own doing, and Christ came to seek the lost.
30. 2.9The law written on Gentile hearts is the moral law of natural equity (like the Golden Rule), not the ceremonial law; the heart means the soul's rational power, and conscience is the spirit joined to the soul as its tutor, which may be separated from a disobedient soul after death.
31. 2.10At the judgment the marks that our present thoughts leave on the heart will accuse or defend us before Christ, which refutes Marcion and others who make salvation a matter of the soul's nature.
32. 2.11Origen notes that Paul, like the prophets, shifts the speaking and addressed persons; he applies Rom 2:17–24 first to the one who is a Jew only in name, then to church leaders whose lives contradict their teaching, and finally to heretics who steal the meaning of Scripture.
33. 2.12True circumcision is the heart's cutting off of vices, but it profits only if joined to doing good, since perfection lies in good works, not merely in avoiding evil; so a baptized Christian who transgresses Christ's law has his baptism counted as uncircumcision.
34. 2.13Origen applies Rom 2:26-29 to Jewish and Gentile believers and to catechumens, argues at length from the law that circumcision bound only Abraham's descendants and slaves, gives its spiritual meaning, answers pagan and Marcionite objections, and begins Rom 3:1-4 on the Jews' advantage, the oracles of God, and 'every man a liar.'
35. 3.1Origen explains that Paul's seemingly disordered argument serves to set Jews and Gentiles in their places; God is not unjust in punishing, because justice is known from its contrary and wrath falls on those who have made room for injustice; and God's truth 'abounds' when it refutes the false doctrines of philosophers.
36. 3.2Paul confirms from Scripture that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, which Origen explains through the natural law that comes with the age of discernment; no one is righteous in God's sight except Christ, and Christians should fear being shamed by virtuous Gentiles.
37. 3.3To 'turn aside' implies that rational nature was created upright; doing only what is commanded leaves one a 'useless servant,' so works beyond the precept such as virginity make one good and faithful; no one but Christ has brought goodness to completion; and Origen explains the 'open grave' and 'deceit.'
38. 3.4The 'poison of asps' is slander and heretical teaching; cursing and bitterness are common faults of the angry tongue; and those who separate souls from God by scandal are murderers with 'feet swift to shed blood.'
39. 3.5The 'ruin' of sinners is their breaking of the Lord's yoke, the 'way of peace' is Christ, and the fear of God rightly set before the mind's eyes frees one from fearing any earthly or spiritual power; the vices listed are spread among all, not all in each person.
40. 3.6The law that 'speaks to those in the law' and brings the knowledge of sin is the natural law given to every rational being, including angels, from the age of discernment; Christ is not under law but is the law, the perfect are a law to themselves, and the law is good because it reveals sin as medicine reveals sickness.
41. 3.7The 'righteousness of God manifested without the law' is Christ, revealed apart from natural law but witnessed by the spiritual sense of Moses and the prophets (Paul marks the law of Moses with the article); faith and the Scriptures together reveal it, and all, Jew and Gentile, are justified freely through the redemption of Christ's blood.
42. 3.8Christ as 'propitiatory' fulfills the golden mercy seat of Exodus: Origen reads its measures and cherubim as the sinless human soul of Jesus, mediator between the Trinity and humanity, indwelt by the Word and the Spirit; he is also high priest and sacrifice, whose blood brings remission to believers first and then to the whole world, while God now forbears and will judge hereafter.
43. 3.9Paul concludes that boasting is excluded and a person is justified by faith without the works of the law, as the penitent thief and the sinful woman show; but faith received is no license to sin, works without faith cannot justify, and the only just boast is in the cross of Christ.
44. 3.10There is one God of Jews and Gentiles, against those who separate the God of the Law from the God of the Gospel; Origen explains Paul's 'from faith' for the circumcision and 'through faith' for the uncircumcision by the distinction of prepositions, concluding that faith and good works complete each other.
45. 3.11Paul does not destroy the law through faith but confirms it, because believing in Christ fulfills what Moses wrote, while Marcion, the Ebionites, and unrepentant sinners destroy it; the law's glory is not abolished by anyone but eclipsed by the greater glory of Christ, as a pedagogue's office ends when the child comes of age.
46. 4.1Abraham's example shows that justification by faith has glory before God, who sees the heart, while justification by works has glory only before men or angels; true faith excludes continued sin and bears works as fruit from a root; Abraham's faith became perfect and was counted as righteousness, and the 'debt' Paul mentions is the debt of sin, since eternal life is grace.
47. 4.2Abraham was justified while uncircumcised, so he is the father of believing Gentiles, while circumcision was given afterward as a 'sign' pointing to spiritual circumcision and a 'seal' to be opened when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and all Israel is saved; true sonship of Abraham is by faith and works, not descent.
48. 4.3The promise that Abraham would inherit the world came before the law of Moses and rests on the righteousness of faith, for the law only spares from punishment while faith, asked of friends, receives the promise.
49. 4.4The inheritance promised to Abraham comes through faith, not through the law of Moses or natural law; against heretics who say the law causes transgression, Origen argues that law reveals but does not cause sin, that the law which 'works wrath' may be the law of sin in our members, and that one who keeps from sin by conscience is better than one restrained only by the law's threat.
50. 4.5The promise rests on faith so that it may be grace, since even faith is a gift of the Spirit, and grace written in the heart is firmer than the law written on parchment; Abraham is father of all who believe, Jew and Gentile; God 'gives life to the dead' by raising souls dead in sin, and 'calls what is not' by bringing Gentiles into being through participation in him who is.
51. 4.6Abraham believed 'against hope in hope' when he had despaired of a son; faith, hope, and love are the foundation, growth, and summit of salvation; faith can be weak or healthy and grows by degrees; and since Abraham later fathered six sons, his 'body as good as dead' is read as the mortification of desire, so that he could beget Isaac and Christ, as believers too may 'beget Christ' through chastity.
52. 4.7Abraham's justification was written for us, who believe in the God who raised Jesus; raising Christ is greater than creating the world, and Abraham's offering of Isaac foreshadowed it; believing in the resurrection means rising with Christ to a new life, since faith cannot be counted as righteousness to one who holds on to sin; and all that is written of the patriarchs is written for us.
53. 4.8Peace with God through Christ means abandoning the enmity of sin and fighting the devil, which itself brings peace; Christ is the door to grace through which only the truthful, righteous, and humble can pass; and the 'hope of the glory of God' looks beyond the glory seen in Moses and in Christ's earthly coming to the Father's glory at his return, for which we prepare by contemplation now.
54. 4.9Through Christ we boast even in tribulations, which are truly good because they produce patience, proof, hope, and love, unlike indifferent things such as wealth or strength; the tribulations of the righteous include self-discipline, while the sufferings of the wicked are 'scourges'; the love of God poured out by the Spirit is the greatest gift; and Christ's death for the ungodly moves martyrs to die boldly for him, refuting those who separate the 'just' God of the law from the 'good' Father of Christ.
55. 4.10God's love for sinners shows how much more he will save those reconciled; 'weak,' 'ungodly,' and 'sinners' cover every kind of sin; Christ alone, unlike legendary self-sacrificing heroes, took away the sin of the world by handing his blood to the ruler of this world; and his blood justifies even more than our faith, saving us from the wrath that consumes only earthly souls.
56. 4.12That enemies can be reconciled refutes Marcion and Valentinus, who make some natures hostile to God by nature; enmity and friendship with God have degrees according to deeds, so one who persists in sin cannot claim to be reconciled; and from Ephesians Origen distinguishes Christ's 'dissolving' the enmity in those still struggling and 'killing' it in those dead to sin.
57. 5.1Origen explains Romans 5:12–14: the unfinished comparison, sin and death entering through Adam, sin “dead” before the natural law, death’s reign until Moses as a tyranny, and Adam as a type of the one to come.
58. 5.2Origen explains how Adam is a type of Christ, similar in kind but contrary in effect, why Paul writes “many” rather than “all,” and how death reigns through upbringing as well as birth.
59. 5.3Origen shows that the gift exceeds the loss, explains over whom the righteous will reign, and argues that the present is a time of war in which Christ prepares his kingdom.
60. 5.4Origen explains the condemnation that came to all through Adam, as bodily death or as expulsion from paradise into this valley of weeping.
61. 5.5Origen distinguishes sinning from being a sinner and explains why Paul says “many,” not “all,” are made sinners through Adam and righteous through Christ.
62. 5.6Origen refutes Marcion’s reading of “the law came in” by showing that sin abounded before Moses, and explains it of the law of the members that slips in under the natural law, overcome by superabounding grace.
63. 5.7Origen answers “shall we remain in sin?” by explaining what it is to live and to die to sin, warns against relapse, and argues that death’s kingdom cannot be eternal like life’s.
64. 5.8Origen teaches that only one who has first died to sin is truly buried with Christ in baptism, explains baptism “from above,” why Paul names Christ alone, and the daily renewal of the new life.
65. 5.9Origen explains being “planted together” in the likeness of Christ’s death and resurrection, answers Docetists, and discusses two meanings of “the body of sin,” including infant baptism as an apostolic tradition.
66. 5.10Origen explains dying and living with Christ, the threefold death in believers, why death no longer rules Christ, rejects the idea that Christ must suffer again in future ages, and teaches that love will keep free choice from falling.
67. 6.1Origen teaches that it lies in our power to keep sin from reigning in the body, that the soul stands between flesh and spirit, and that keeping the death of Christ before the mind routs sin.
68. 6.2Origen notes that this question repeats Rom 6:1 but is now put by those who have already left sin and live under grace.
69. 6.3Origen teaches that each person freely chooses whether to serve sin or righteousness, rejects excuses blaming the devil, nature, fate, or the stars, and explains the “pattern” of teaching as a shadow of the full truth to come.
70. 6.4Origen explains Paul’s “human” appeal: the members once used for vice should now serve righteousness and chastity, which shows that the choice lies with us, not with nature or the stars.
71. 6.5Origen explains servitude to sin and to righteousness, the fruits of each, why evil fruits are not “ours,” and the meanings of “eternal” in Scripture.
72. 6.6Origen contrasts sin’s wages with God’s gift and sets out the several meanings of “death” in Scripture, showing that the death God inflicts is meant to give life.
73. 6.7Origen explains Paul’s marriage analogy in Romans 7: the law according to the letter is the dead first husband, and the soul is now free to be joined to Christ, the risen second husband, serving in the newness of the Spirit.
74. 6.8Origen explains Romans 7:7–13: the law that makes sin known is the natural law in the conscience; the commandment is good, but sin, taking occasion from it, deceived and killed the soul.
75. 6.9Origen reads Romans 7:14–25 as Paul taking on the person of the weak, one beginning conversion whose good will is not yet matched by deeds, delivered at last by the grace of God through Christ.
76. 6.10Origen argues that “I myself serve the law of God with the mind but sin with the flesh” is still said in the person of a beginner, lest every soul despair of overcoming sin.
77. 6.11Origen explains that no condemnation remains for those wholly in Christ, a state reached gradually as each virtue claims its share, and that the Spirit of life and Christ set free with one freedom.
78. 6.12Origen reads Romans 8:3–9 of the law understood according to the letter (weak and now “dead”) versus according to the spirit, explains the Son’s “likeness of sinful flesh” and his sacrifice for sin, and gives a second reading based on the law of the mind.
79. 6.13Origen identifies the Spirit of God with the Spirit of Christ, explains what it is to have the Spirit of Christ, how the Spirit is received in various ways and increased by merit, and how the virtues that Christ is show his Spirit in us.
80. 6.14Origen explains that we owe nothing to the flesh beyond necessities and that the fruits of the Spirit gradually put to death the deeds of the flesh, ending Book 6.
81. 7.1Opening Book 7, Origen distinguishes the many senses of “spirit” in Scripture: the Holy Spirit, the spirit of servitude, the human spirit, angelic and evil spirits, and winds.
82. 7.2Origen contrasts the spirit of servitude, a pedagogue for beginners, with the Spirit of adoption by which the perfect cry “Abba, Father,” and explains being heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ through suffering with him.
83. 7.3Origen explains why present sufferings cannot compare with the glory to come and interprets the creation subjected to vanity as rational creatures, including the soul bound to the body and the heavenly bodies and angels, who groan in sympathy and await the revelation of God’s sons.
84. 7.5Origen explains the groaning of those who have the “firstfruits of the Spirit,” offering three readings of the phrase (the Holy Spirit above ministering spirits, the apostles’ highest gifts, or the Spirit as firstfruits of many spirits), and teaches that adoption and redemption are now held in hope.
85. 7.6Origen explains how the Spirit helps our weakness in prayer, like a teacher stooping to a beginner, interceding with unutterable groanings, and warns against praying for worldly prosperity.
86. 7.7Origen explains that all things work for good for those who love God, distinguishes the two forms of Christ to which believers are conformed, reads “foreknew” as God’s knowing the good with love, and calls the soul of Jesus the proper image of the Son.
87. 7.8Origen interprets the chain of foreknowing, predestining, calling, justifying and glorifying so that salvation rests not on God’s foreknowledge but on human purpose and action: God “knows” the good with love, calls all, and justifies those called “according to purpose.”
88. 7.9Origen sums up the gifts of Romans 8, shows that with God for us the adversary is powerless, and explains the Father’s handing over of his own Son for all, so that none in the Church may be despised and all things are given with him.
89. 7.10Origen explains that the devil accuses all but cannot prevail against the elect whom God justifies and Christ defends, while warning that Christ, being the truth, will not plead for unrepented sins after baptism.
90. 7.11Origen shows how one rooted in God’s love answers each trial—tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword—with Scripture, overcoming not by his own strength but through Christ’s love, which makes bodily pain unfelt.
91. 7.12Origen explains each power that cannot separate the believer from God’s love—death and the life of sin, hostile angels and powers, things present and to come, height and depth, and any other creature—and warns that the flesh is the enemy most to be feared.
92. 7.13Origen explains Paul’s wish to be anathema for Israel as Christlike self-offering that was heard (all Israel will be saved), lists Israel’s privileges, and argues from Rom 9:5 that Christ is God over all and that the Trinity is one in nature and substance.
93. 7.14Origen explains that God’s word to Israel has not failed, because the true Israel, named from “seeing God,” are the children of the promise of faith, as Isaac alone was Abraham’s heir.
94. 7.15Origen explains that God’s promises to Israel have not failed, because Isaac and Jacob were chosen not by fleshly descent or works but by God’s purpose, so that the promise passes to the sons of God, not the sons of the flesh.
95. 7.16Origen reads Romans 9:14–19 as an objector’s case against free choice which Paul rejects, explaining “not of him who wills” as the work completed by God, Pharaoh as “raised up” for his own wickedness, and hardening as God’s patience that the obstinate refuse.
96. 7.17Origen explains that Paul rebukes the insolent questioner but opens to the humble seeker (2 Tim 2:20–21) that vessels of honor are those who cleanse themselves and vessels of wrath those who harden themselves, as Jacob was chosen for the purity of his soul.
97. 7.18Origen explains why God makes his wrath known but hides his kindness, that vessels of mercy are those who purge themselves, that Israel lost the grace it did not keep and the Gentiles must fear the same, and that God says “not my people” and “sons of the living God” in the conscience.
98. 7.19Origen explains Isaiah’s “remnant” (stars of heaven, not sand of the sea), the “shortened word” as the double love commandment or the creed, and the “seed” left to Israel as Christ, sown in death to bear the Church as fruit.
99. 7.20Origen explains that the Gentiles, who had righteousness implanted by natural law rather than pursued from books, reached the righteousness of faith, while Israel pursued the letter and missed the spiritual law, stumbling at Christ, who blocks the road of sin as he did for Paul.
100. 8.1The Jews have zeal for God but not according to knowledge, and the same can be true of Christians' fear, love, faith, chastity, almsgiving and fasting; yet zeal without knowledge is better than none, and Paul prays for Israel's salvation.
101. 8.2Christ, the end of the law and the righteousness of faith, is present everywhere as the Word, near every person in possibility and in believers in actuality; true confession of Jesus as Lord means subjection to all that Christ is and newness of life.
102. 8.3The same Lord is rich toward all who call upon him, but calling upon the Lord without fitting works, or too late, does not save; in Scripture 'calling upon the name of the Lord' is said of great men such as Enosh, Moses, Aaron and Samuel.
103. 8.5Calling on the Lord presupposes faith, and since Christ is called upon he is to be prayed to and honored with the Father; preachers speak only by the power of the one who sends them, and their beautiful feet are spiritual, announcing the one good of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which heretics announce but not well.
104. 8.6Not all believe the gospel; Origen distinguishes the simple 'sound' of preaching that reaches all from the 'words' of wisdom that reach the learned, explains 'no-nation' as the honor of a people drawn from all nations, and reads Isaiah's boldness as his willingness to die for the truth, while the Jews still seek Christ and do not find him.
105. 8.7God has not rejected Israel, as Paul himself and the remnant, like Elijah's seven thousand, show; the 'election of grace' marks those who adorn grace with virtue, and the works Paul excludes are circumcision, sacrifices and sabbaths, not the works of righteousness, while grace must not be made void by sin.
106. 8.8God's giving the rest of Israel eyes that do not see is a retribution and even a remedy, since it is better not to be wise than to be wise wrongly; Israel's 'table' is the Old Testament, which becomes a snare to those who will not understand it spiritually, and Christians must not come to Wisdom's table defiled.
107. 8.9Israel has stumbled but not fallen beyond recovery, as the devil has; its trespass enriches the world and the Gentiles, God turning even sins to others' profit, and Israel's coming to faith at the end will complete the fullness of the Lord's portion.
108. 8.10Paul makes his ministry illustrious by ministering well, as deacons, presbyters, bishops, widows, virgins and all believers must; if Israel's casting away reconciled the world, its reception at the end will mean the resurrection of the dead and the world's incorruption.
109. 8.11Against the Valentinians' fixed natures, Origen holds that all rational beings share one nature and become good or wild olives by free choice; the holy root is Christ, and Gentile believers must not boast over the broken branches but fear God's severity.
110. 8.12Israel's partial blindness, brought on by the jealous angels of the nations and permitted by God, made room for the Gentiles; when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, Israel will seek Christ and be saved, while those not purified by the gospel face the purifying fire of Gehenna, a mystery not to be spread among the imperfect.
111. 8.13Israel, an enemy as regards the gospel but beloved for the fathers, will obtain mercy after the fullness of the Gentiles; God permits evil, even from its origin, so that others may profit from it, and Paul's cry 'O the depth' and 'from him, through him, in him' points to the Trinity, whose counsels no creature can search.
112. 9.1Christians offer God the reasonable sacrifice of their own bodies, mastering pride, anger and lust; virginity holds a high rank but married believers too can offer a holy sacrifice, while virgins stained by pride or avarice do not; renewal of mind through Scripture lets one discern God's good, pleasing and perfect will.
113. 9.2Speaking through grace converts hearers as eloquence does not; virtue is a measure that can be exceeded or fallen short of, as in false asceticism or heresy about Christ; each member of Christ's body has its own gift according to the measure of faith, and providence dispenses all according to merits gathered by free choice.
114. 9.3Gifts such as prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, presiding and mercy are given by grace according to the measure of faith, which is partly our work; prophecy in Paul's sense is edifying speech that we can strive for, and each gift must be exercised without exceeding its measure.
115. 9.4Love not directed to God, or that will not correct a neighbor, is feigned; hatred too has its place in the soul when it is directed at vices, and cleaving to the good makes us one with it.
116. 9.6Love of one another is the first commandment after love of God, yet we turn our hatred on our brothers instead of on vices; we are to love them, not judge them, whether they are ungodly, sinners or righteous.
117. 9.7Preferring others in honor is the Lord's teaching to take the last place at table.
118. 9.8Diligence is required of all believers, lest they hear the Lord's rebuke of the slothful servant.
119. 9.9Those who live under the law of the spirit must do everything with fervor, not lukewarmly.
120. 9.10He serves the Lord whom Christ alone rules and no vice; the Latin variant 'serving the time' fits only if read like Paul's sayings about the shortness of time.
121. 9.11Hope in unseen glory brings joy and patience in tribulation, provided we persevere in prayer for the help human frailty needs.
122. 9.12Whether one reads 'the needs' or 'the remembrances' of the saints, both are edifying: sharing our means with them as equals, and remembering them in the assemblies.
123. 9.13To pursue hospitality is not only to receive guests but to search them out, as Lot did.
124. 9.14Christians must not curse but bless those who persecute them; God's blessing gives a gift, while human blessing of God is praise, and Paul's example is to bless when cursed.
125. 9.15Christians should rejoice only with joys worthy of heaven, such as good works and conversions, and weep not over worldly losses but with those who weep for their sins and long for Christ.
126. 9.16'Thinking the same toward one another' means regarding and wishing for a brother as for oneself, as in the Golden Rule.
127. 9.17Pride must be shunned in all things, and consenting to the lowly is to imitate Christ's self-humbling.
128. 9.18Self-conceit makes true wisdom impossible, as it caused the Jews' unbelief according to Rom 10:3.
129. 9.19Returning evil for evil is as bad as inflicting it, or worse, since the avenger knows it is evil; vengeance belongs to the Lord.
130. 9.20Providing good things before all means living blamelessly, not pleasing everyone's vices; good must be done whether or not it pleases.
131. 9.21Our part is always to be ready for peace, leaving the blame for discord with the other; peace with evildoers in their sins is excluded, but the perfect love the person while hating the crime.
132. 9.22Not avenging ourselves gives place to wrath in two ways: the offender's anger subsides, and he stores up God's wrath, which will punish him far more than we could.
133. 9.23Heaping coals on an enemy's head by kindness may mean his punishment, or better, the fire of remorse that helps him repent; evil is overcome by its contrary, and Paul joins moral precepts to the gifts to show that good conduct too is a gift of God's grace.
134. 9.25The command to be subject to authorities is given to the 'soul' still bound to worldly goods, not to the spiritual; authority comes from God as our senses do, and those who misuse it will be justly judged.
135. 9.26Paul means ordinary authorities, not persecutors; the apostolic decree forbade only what human law left untouched, since the civil judge, as God's minister, punishes the other crimes, and the law-abiding will have praise from God at the judgment, while those who do good from love live under the law of the spirit.
136. 9.29Christians must be subject and pay taxes so as to live quietly; refusal would make their persecutors excusable and turn their death into a just penalty rather than martyrdom.
137. 9.30Taxes are paid to the world's ministers, including the spirits that exact the 'tribute' of temptation, by those who still live according to the flesh, as Christ himself paid; fear and honor belong to God, and the one debt never to be paid off is love.
138. 9.31Love fulfills every commandment, since no one kills, commits adultery against, robs or slanders the one he loves; above all, loving Christ, our true neighbor, fulfills the whole law, and love of Christ brings love of neighbor.
139. 9.32The soul too can sleep when it neglects the things of God; Paul announces the day, both the general day of the age to come, which draws nearer daily, and the day Christ makes in each believer's heart.
140. 9.33The works of darkness are the vices of the flesh, revelry, drunkenness and sexual wantonness, and of the mind, strife and jealousy, which those who walk in the light avoid.
141. 9.34To put on Christ is to put on the virtues he is; the flesh is to be cared for in necessities but not in its lusts.
142. 9.35The 'weak in faith' who eat only vegetables, perhaps Jewish believers keeping food laws, are to be received and not despised by Gentile believers; weakness in faith is doubt in some part, not unbelief.
143. 9.36Read spiritually, eating all things means the perfect who can receive every kind of teaching, and 'vegetables' the simpler word that sustains the weak; neither the advanced may despise the simple, nor the simple judge the advanced, for God can make even the fallen stand.
144. 9.37Literally, the verse allows each to choose lifelong or temporary abstinence by vow, both being acceptable to the Lord.
145. 9.38Both the abstinent and the free give thanks; spiritually, the 'days' are the chapters of Scripture, and both the student who searches them all and the simple believer saved by a brief confession of faith give thanks to God.
146. 9.39We take the pattern of dying to sin and of new life from Christ's death and resurrection; Christ rules all by power as Creator, but by his death he rules by persuasion those who freely die to sin and live the new life.
147. 9.40Since mortification and new life come from Christ, neither the learned may despise the simple nor the simple judge the learned; judging a brother is the graver fault.
148. 9.41Judging a brother usurps Christ's judgment seat, before which every heart will be laid bare; the 'judgment seat of Christ' and 'of God' may differ as the time of Christ's reconciling reign and its completion when he hands the kingdom to the Father; at the judgment each is weighed by whether good or evil prevails, and none should put a stumbling block before new believers.
149. 9.42Nothing is 'common' (unclean) by nature; a man is made common by the many evil spirits that possess an alienated mind, and food is unclean only to one who thinks it so; yet freedom must yield to love so as not to destroy a weaker brother, and true observance lies in moderation and a pure mind, as the holiness of Paul's handkerchiefs and Peter's shadow shows.
150. 10.1To press converts from Judaism or Encratism to eat all foods as if salvation required it brings the faith into disrepute; the kingdom of God, where there is no food or drink, consists in righteousness, peace and joy in the Spirit, the virtues by which we serve Christ.
151. 10.2Peace, which flees from the quarrelsome, must be pursued at any cost, and edification builds the temple of living stones; whoever offends brothers over food tears down God's work of love.
152. 10.3All things are clean by nature and become unclean only through a brother's offense or one's own judgment; the food laws once set Israel apart, but with the opening of faith to the Gentiles all foods are purified; yet abstaining from meat and wine is truly good when a brother would otherwise stumble, and abstainers must not be forced to eat.
153. 10.4The faith that all foods are clean is to be held before God, not paraded or forced on others; to have faith approved by God is great, since even the apostles' faith was judged small.
154. 10.5Blessed is the one who holds firm in what he has approved, whether chastity or freedom in foods, without self-condemnation; whatever is done without faith is sin, and the heretics' 'faith' is mere credulity, a false light like pirates' lamps luring sailors to shipwreck.
155. 10.6The strong must bear the weaknesses of the weak rather than expel them, as Christ bears ours; we are to please our neighbor for his edification, not to win praise or by betraying the faith, as Christ bore reproaches to save sinners; and the Scriptures, read spiritually, were written to give comfort and hope to those who understand.
156. 10.7God is the God of patience and comfort in those who have these virtues; Paul blesses the Romans with unanimity, whose power is shown by Christ's promise, by Pentecost, and by a Hebrew tradition about the repentant sons of Korah; they are to receive one another as Christ received them.
157. 10.8Christ was minister of circumcision either by being circumcised in the flesh, so that Jewish believers who keep the law should not be judged, or as minister of the spiritual circumcision of the heart; the cited texts follow the Septuagint, and the 'root of Jesse' (Jesse meaning 'he is to me') points to the eternal one who is, born for the Gentiles' salvation.
158. 10.9Paul calls on the 'God of hope' because the Gentiles hope in Christ, whose blood made peace in heaven and earth; fullness of peace belongs to those reconciled to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, believing in the fullness of the Trinity.
159. 10.10The Romans are 'full of knowledge' only in human measure, as Paul himself was perfect only relative to others and not to heavenly perfection; believers should instruct one another in love, deferring to the learned on deeper questions.
160. 10.11Paul wrote 'in part' of the mysteries, knowing far more than he wrote; preaching the gospel is a priestly sacrifice (Greek hierourgōn), and the preacher must first offer himself without blemish so that the Gentiles, his offering, are made acceptable through the Holy Spirit.
161. 10.12True boasting is in Christ; Paul speaks only of what Christ did through him in word and in signs and wonders across the nations, building on no one else's foundation, an example for church leaders not to teach virtues they lack; his visit to Rome 'in passing' is framed to draw out the Romans' love.
162. 10.14The collection of Macedonia and Achaia for Jerusalem's poor gently exhorts the Romans; spiritually, the 'poor saints of Jerusalem' are all the spiritual, dwelling in the vision of peace, to whom less perfect souls owe carnal ministry, while spiritual gifts are shared rather than owed; Paul seals the gift with the image of God, and prophesies his coming in Christ's blessing.
163. 10.15Even what is prophesied needs prayer, so no one should scorn asking the church's prayers; prayer is a contest against hostile powers and distracting thoughts, and Paul asks help in it so as not to be hindered in Judea, seeking at Rome the rest of mutual comfort in faith.
164. 10.17Phoebe shows that women are appointed to the ministry of the church, and that those chosen should be women who, like Lot and Abraham in hospitality, have served many; those who serve the church should be honored and helped in return.
165. 10.18Prisca and Aquila, the tentmakers of Acts 18, risked their lives for Paul and were hospitable to Jewish and Gentile believers alike; 'the church in their house' includes the servants who shared their ministry of hospitality.
166. 10.19Epaenetus is the 'firstfruits of Asia', either as the first convert or as chosen for excellence by the angels who preside over the churches.
167. 10.20Mary's labor shows that women too should labor for the churches, as in the duties set out in the Pastoral Letters.
168. 10.21Andronicus and Junia may have been Paul's relatives and among the seventy-two apostles; their being his 'fellow captives' may mean that, like Daniel and his companions in Babylon, they shared the captivity of this world not for their sins but to comfort the captives.
169. 10.22Ampliatus is praiseworthy simply because Paul calls him beloved.
170. 10.23Urbanus, a 'helper in Christ', shares in apostolic work and is praised above Stachys, who is only 'beloved'.
171. 10.24Apelles was probably 'approved' through enduring tribulations; he may be the Apollos of Acts.
172. 10.25Aristobulus's household receive a bare greeting, perhaps because they had no special merits.
173. 10.26Herodion, though a kinsman, lacks the further titles given Andronicus and Junia, showing differences even among Paul's kinsmen.
174. 10.27Only those of Narcissus's household who were in the Lord are greeted.
175. 10.28Tryphaena and Tryphosa labor in the Lord, not merely in worldly toil.
176. 10.29Persis, who 'labored much' and is 'beloved', is praised above Tryphaena and Tryphosa.
177. 10.30The varied titles in the greetings reflect each person's merit; Rufus is among the chosen few, and his mother was a mother to Paul as Mary was to John.
178. 10.31The Hermas greeted by Paul is, Origen thinks, the author of the Shepherd, a useful and inspired writing, who receives neither praise nor reproach as a penitent still under the angel of repentance; the holy kiss must be chaste and unfeigned, unlike Judas's.
179. 10.34Paul can send greetings from all the churches because one spirit unites him with them, or because greeting means union in faith and spirit.
180. 10.35Those who sow dissension serve their belly, flattering for gain; the Romans' indiscriminate obedience, though a good disposition, must learn discernment, which comes only from training in Scripture, to obey God rather than men and to tell sheep from wolves.
181. 10.36Christians should be wise in finding ways to do good and simple in evil, refusing crafty revenge; one can be wise toward God and foolish toward the world, and no one can serve both Christ and the belly.
182. 10.37The 'Satan' to be crushed is any adversary spirit opposing the soul's peace, raised against the negligent and crushed for the zealous in each contest of chastity, faith, concord or gentleness.
183. 10.38The grace of the Father and of Christ is one; everything creatures have from God is grace, not debt.
184. 10.39Timothy, Lucius (perhaps Luke), Jason and Sosipater are identified from Acts; since they came from different cities and some from Gentile fathers, Paul's calling them 'kinsmen' must refer to kinship in the heavenly fatherhood and a shared mission and captivity in this world.
185. 10.40Tertius names himself because he wrote 'in the Lord', for God's glory, recognizing that what Paul dictated was the Lord's word.
186. 10.41Gaius, Paul's host, is the Gaius of 1 Cor 1:14; the rest of the comment (and that on Erastus, 'treasurer of the city', 16:23b) is largely lost in the scan, ending with the question whether a deeper sense should be sought.
187. 10.43Marcion removed the doxology and cut away Rom 14:23 to the end, while other manuscripts place the doxology after 14:23 or at the end; the gospel strengthens all believers, but the revelation of the long-silent mystery, known to the prophets yet kept hidden until the Incarnation, is for the chosen few; God is 'only wise' as the begetter of Wisdom, Christ.