Глава 7

(Rom. 7:1–4) “For as a married woman is bound... to... the law of her husband while the husband lives; “if her husband dies, she is freed from the law of her husband” (i.e., marriage with a deceased husband is considered destroyed), so she is free to marry anyone; so “you also... died for the law through the Body” of our Lord, which you received - and it is worthy and righteous that you belong to Him who descended to the dead for your sake and ascended to bring you to God at the time of His coming as fruit saint. (Rom. 7:5) “For while we were in (living according to) the flesh,” that is, while we were under the law, then the sorrowful desires that were “through the law,” namely: do not commit adultery, do not steal, etc., dominated us, so that we bore fruit of death. And the Apostle also includes himself among them so that it does not seem that he himself had no need for this redemption, graciously given to us through our Lord, and so as not to give anyone a reason to boast. (Rom. 7:6) “Now, since we have been freed... from... the law,” that is, since the law has become superfluous for us, and “we died to him to whom we were delivered” into slavery, were precisely in subjection to his dominion, let us walk in bondage of the spirit “and not in the oldness of letters,” that is, in a spiritual life, and not in an old life according to the letter. The New Testament, full of spiritual and heavenly content, is called life-giving, since it proclaims life to those condemned to death, precisely to those who were put to death under the Old Testament. (Rom.7:7) “What shall we say,” he says, “the Law is sin? No way. But I would not have known sin if he (the law) had not spoken... and I would not have known desire in paradise if he had not said: “Thou shalt not covet.” (Rom. 7:8-10) “From this life-giving commandment, sin took the occasion and produced in me every desire of its own: for without the law, which was given to Adam, sin was dead” was for him. However, he lived and was clothed with glory before the law. “But when the commandment came, sin, which was dead, came to life.” And Adam died to a life of glory, and “the commandment given for life turned out to be death for him.” (Rom. 7:12) “So the law,” of course Adam, “is holy” and beneficial. (Rom.7:13) “So... is it good... am I dead?” That is, it was given (the commandment) to him so that Adam would die through him? - “No way. But sin, in order to appear in its evil, brought death on me through good, that is, through the life-giving commandment, it killed me - “so that sin would be” with one’s own eyes a sinner through the commandment, that is, so that sin would be condemned forever for forcing Adam to transgress the commandment. The Apostle spoke of sin that entered the world and whose power the law could not resist. But seeing that it is difficult for readers to understand the varied combination of his words, he again sets out his reasoning without the previous many secrecy, in clear and concise speech. Through the common flesh, in which lusts are contained, he focused on my flesh his revelation of all those evils that Moses tells about. Let, I ask, each of you weigh how many evils dwell in his flesh. So, leaving the world, I focused my attention on one flesh, as a symbol of the world, since it is easy for every person to turn to one thing, while when viewed from everywhere, it scatters the gaze of those looking in all directions. If evil, he says, is within us, then what good is it to me when I am circumcised and keep the Sabbath? After all, these external means, which are performed in the flesh, cannot prevent and restrain the spirit from this lust, which from within leads to confusion and confusion. So, the Apostle sees that nature encourages sin, but the law curses; nature kindles from within, but law from without holds the naked sword. This is how sins accumulate upon sins. And the sinners became confused and became reckless; having lost hope, they gave themselves over to all kinds of evil. since they saw that their hope was cut short by the law itself, and in all their deeds they were given over to death, they stopped in confusion between nature and the law, and sin reigned over them. Thus, those subject to intoxication act as intoxication desires. Likewise, a person whose body is immersed in mud, and who would like to come out, no matter how he spins in this mud, he rotates by his own will and not by his own will: by his own will - since no one else rotates him, and not by his own will - since internally he does not want to rotate like that. Look at the sinner's wife and at Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 7:38, 19:2). Nothing else was added to their freedom except the mercy of Him who remitted their debt, and behold, they rose up and strengthened themselves, as if He had granted them some (new) valor or strength. And this is because He no longer placed on them the duty that they had in relation to the law itself. As for the saying of the psalm cited by the Apostle: “there is none righteous, not one” (Ps. 13:3), then under such a condition (state), our Lord who came found Israel, truly, like a sinful wife, for that woman wanted to repent and could not. Through the woman's tears, shed at the feet of the Lord, Israel was converted through the forgiveness (of sins) by our Lord, that is, through the same means by which the woman was converted by Him. After all, through baptism He forgave all people, as well as a sinful wife through the word. Therefore they loved the Son for His forgiveness, and freedom was restored from its fall. Likewise, lust was overcome by His coming and weakness by His strengthening... Despair was also overcome by His hope. And that the law itself would not dare to forgive everyone’s sin, even the lawyers themselves testify to this. “Who,” they say, “can forgive sin except God alone” (Mark 2:7)? So, if someone killed someone involuntarily, he fled to the city of refuge, and after that he was only saved (from execution); and whoever killed intentionally and of his own free will, in any case, was subject to the death penalty (Josh. 20:1-6, Num. 35:6, Deut. 19:13). Repentance, given by God, He gave to all the people: “I did not reject it,” He says, “I am Abraham” (Rom. 11:1, 1 Sam. 12:22, Ps. 93:14). Each of the villains, after committing a crime, expected retribution for his deeds. After all, if a command were given regarding adulterers, thieves and criminals of the law, so that they would not be held accountable, if this were so, then, consequently, the law would be broken. So, the repentance that was given to them was not between a man and his companion, but between generation and generation, and between captivity and captivity. Judge, he says, in your mind and decide, who would be better off reigning over you? Is it the Law, which had a sword in its hands, or the Gospel, which is full of mercy and compassion? If you cannot withstand His justice, then are you not satisfied with the grace of the Son? Who pursues you with envy because you have abandoned both? (Rom.7:14) With all this in mind, the Apostle begins to say: “there is a spiritual law.” He made them proud of this so that they would convert, and in order to subdue them, then he talks about the powerlessness of the law. The law is spiritual in relation to our flesh, full of sins, but in relation to the Gospel the law of the flesh, being full of earthly promises and cruel punishments. So, although the law is spiritual, carnality and sensual pleasure were involved in its spirituality, just as the crucifixion of works was connected with the incarnation of our Lord. Therefore, our Lord took on our flesh and had mercy on us, so that, despite insignificant pleasures and sensual delights, He would give us the opportunity to acquire a righteous life. Since the people needed to obey the law, he often promised them earthly things, so that for the sake of the goods that he loved, he would obey the law that he did not love. He made a promise to him so that for his sake he would love the law, which, however, due to the sensuality of its rewards, kept him from observing the law. But if he were forbidden and earthly things were taken away from him, then through the crucifixion of his flesh, he would be protected from those sins that prevailed in him through the promise of the law. On the contrary, he says, “I am sold under sin,” that is, I am caught in the act of committing sin. (Rom.7:15) “For... what I do I do not know,” since no one knows during his (earthly) life when sin grows in him. “For I do not... what I will, I do,” says this: the body has a desire for what is not according to the will, that is, not according to the intention of the spirit. Truly, as a slave of sin, I do not do what I desire; I also do not know what I do, although no longer as a slave. But just as the spirit of a slave desires to be free, so our inner man desires freedom. Since, once having received freedom, the slave can again sell his freedom into slavery, he says: He has freed you, do not enter under the yoke of slavery. Through baptism I freed you from the sin that you committed: do not return to sin and do not enter under the yoke of sin from which you were freed by the cleansing of baptism, he says, that is, what my mind hates, it rules in my flesh. (Rom. 7:16) “But if I do not desire something” and pursue with hatred, “I do this, then I agree with the law,” which forbids me this, “that it is good.” (Rom.7:17) “Now it is no longer I who do this, but... sin,” which once in distant times forced me to obey it. (Rom.7:18) “For I know that nothing good lives in my flesh.” He spoke about his flesh first in order to show the necessity of grace for our nature mixed with evil, and not the certainty of the truth, and also in order to draw the conclusion that he himself, together with all those clothed in the flesh, received remission of sins in baptism. (Rom. 7:20) “If... I do not desire something, I do it; it is no longer I who do it,” for it is not my inner intention that does this, “but... sin,” which I made to dwell in my flesh. (Rom.7:21) So, I see a certain law that wants to do something good in me, something that is difficult for my will, because it is inclined to do evil. (Rom.7:22) “I delight in the law of God, that is, our inner man.” (Rom. 7:23) “But besides this, I also see another law” in my flesh, for it is the very sinful habit (propensity for evil), which has become old in my flesh - a law that is armed and “warrants the law”, in which “my mind rejoices, - the law of sin that captivates me”, which (sin) I have lodged in my flesh. (Rom.7:24) “I am a wretched man: who will deliver me from... this body,” that is, from these carnal deeds of the body? (Rom.7:25) There is only “the grace of the Lord our Jesus and Christ,” which was given to the sinner wife and to all who have received and are about to receive baptism. If, therefore, the body does not retreat and does not renounce all earthly objects, which are its roots, then, in accordance with these very earthly objects, it gives its fruit. So, a person must avoid this bait and the law of sin, since this makes a person coarse and reluctantly resorts to grace, which saves us through spiritual living. “Therefore... with my mind I myself serve the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin.” You might be interested in: