# Interpretation of the Letter to the Romans

- Author: [Theodoret of Cyrus](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/theodoret-of-cyrus/)
- Latin title: *Interpretatio in epistulam ad Romanos*
- Date: ca. 436-448 (approximate)
- Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Graeca 82 (Paris)

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Editions and translations: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Graeca 82 (Paris, 1864)
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theodoret-interpretatio-romanos/
- Passages: 3

## On Rom 7.1

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theodoret-interpretatio-romanos/7-1/#p-7-1
- Source: PG 82:117
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Theodoret explains that the law binds people only while they live, introducing Paul's example of marriage.

### Greek text

Ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε, ἀδελφοὶ (γινώσκουσι γὰρ νόμον λαλῶ), ὅτι ὁ νόμος κυριεύει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐρ᾽ ὅσον χρόνον ζῇ; ᾿Αχριδῶς ἴστε, φησὶ, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐντεθραμμένοι τῷ νόμῳ, ὡς τῶν ἔτι περιόντων ὁ νόμος χρατεῖ. Εἰσφέρει δὲ καὶ παράδειγμα τῷ προχειμένῳ χατάλληλον, καί φησιν"

### English translation (Claude)

“Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a person as long as he lives?” You know well, he says, you who were brought up in the law, that the law rules those who are still alive. And he brings in an example fitting the matter at hand, and says:

### Scripture references

- Rom 7:1: quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Quotation: Rom 7:1. A stray letter of the edition's marginal column marking was removed.

### Citation (SBL)

Theodoret, Interp. Rom. 7.1 (PG 82:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-interpretatio-romanos/7-1).

## On Rom 7.2

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theodoret-interpretatio-romanos/7-1/#p-7-2
- Source: PG 82:117
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Theodoret quotes Paul's example that a wife is bound to her husband only while he lives.

### Greek text

Ἡ γὰρ ὕπανδρος γυνὴ τῷ ζῶντι ἀνδρὶ δέδεται νόμῳ" ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ, κατήργηται ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ἀνδρός. Εἶτα τοῦτο διδάσχει

### English translation (Claude)

“For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives; but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband.” Then he teaches this:

### Scripture references

- Rom 7:2: quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Quotation: Rom 7:2.

### Citation (SBL)

Theodoret, Interp. Rom. 7.2 (PG 82:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-interpretatio-romanos/7-2).

## On Rom 7.3

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theodoret-interpretatio-romanos/7-1/#p-7-3
- Source: PG 82:117
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Theodoret explains that a widow may lawfully remarry, and that Paul did not appeal to the Mosaic permission of divorce because Christ had said it was given for hardness of heart, contrary to the original law of creation.

### Greek text

Ἄρα οὖν ζῶντος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς μοιχαλὶς χρηματίζει, ἐὰν γένηται ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ « ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ, ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, τοῦ μὴ εἶναι αὐτὴν μοιχαλίδα, γενομένην ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ. Μοιχεύτριαν καλεῖ, φησὶν, ὁ νόμος, οὐ τὴν μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ὁμόζυγος τελευτὴν συναπτομένην ἑτέρῳ, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἔτι περιόντος τοῦ συνοιχοῦντος εἰ εἰς τὸν νόμον τοῦ γάμου, τιμωρεῖσθα: χελεύει. Εὔὅηλον τοίνυν ὡς, τοῦ ἀνδρὸς δεξαμένου τοῦ βίου τὸ πέρας, ἔννομον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ παράνομον, τὸ ἑτέρῳ γήμασθαι τὴν χηρεύουσαν. Καὶ ἥδει μὲν ὁ θεῖος ᾿Απόστόλος ὡς ἄδειαν καὶ τοῖς ζῶσιν ὁ νόμος ἐδεδώχει διαζευγνύναι τὸν γάμον, ὅταν οὐ χαταθύμιος ἧ. ᾿Αλλὰ τῆς Δεσποτιχῆς διδασχαλίας ἐπήχουσεν, ἢ. τὸν Μωῦσέα πρὸς τὴν Ἰουδαίων σκληροκαρδίαν τοῦτὸν ἔφη δεδωαχέναι τὸν νόμον, τὸν δὲ τῆς φύσεως νόμον οὐ ταῦτα προστεθειχέναι "", Ἕνα γὰρ ἄνδρα, "φησὶ, καὶ μίαν γυναῖχα ἐδημιούργησεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ διαπλάσει τὸν περὶ τοῦ γάμου νόμον τιθείς. Διά τοι τοῦτο ἐχεῖνο χαταλιπὼν, ἐπὶ τὸν περὶ τῶν τετελευτηχότων ἐλήλυθε νόμον, καὶ ἐπήγαγεν"

### English translation (Claude)

“So then, if she becomes another man's while her husband lives, she will be called an adulteress; but if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she becomes another man's.” The law, he says, calls an adulteress not the woman who is joined to another after the death of her spouse, but the one who … while her partner is still living, and it commands that she be punished according to the law of marriage. It is clear, then, that when the husband has reached the end of life, it is lawful, not unlawful, for the widow to marry another. And the divine Apostle knew that the law had given permission even to the living to dissolve a marriage when it was not to their liking. But he had heard the Master's teaching, which said that Moses had given this law in view of the hardness of heart of the Jews, but that the law of nature had not laid this down: “For God,” he says, “created one man and one woman,” setting down the law about marriage in the very act of fashioning. For this reason, leaving that aside, he came to the law about the dead, and added:

### Scripture references

- Rom 7:3: quotation, high confidence
- Deut 24:1–4: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 19:8: allusion, high confidence
- Mark 10:5–6: allusion, high confidence
- Gen 1:27: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 19:4: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Theodoret holds that Paul passed over the Mosaic permission of divorce (Deut 24:1–4) because Christ set it aside as a concession to hardness of heart (Matt 19:8; Mark 10:5–6), appealing to the creation of one man and one woman (Gen 1:27; Matt 19:4); remarriage after a spouse's death is lawful. Translated as written. Quotation: Rom 7:3. Words are lost before “while her partner is still living” (marked …); the digital text has Migne's Latin translation and notes mixed in at this point, which are left out. κ/χ confusions translated by sense.

### Citation (SBL)

Theodoret, Interp. Rom. 7.3 (PG 82:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-interpretatio-romanos/7-3).