Chapter 5

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Epistle of St Paul to the Romans — Chapter Five

¹ Chapter Five. Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have had access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Here he discourses concerning manner of life. For since he had said great things concerning faith, but had made light of works, lest we should grow slothful, he says—showing also concerning life: Since faith has justified us, let us no longer sin, but “Let us have peace with God,” through living in a manner well-pleasing to him. And how shall this come to pass? “Through our Lord Jesus Christ.” For he who justified us while we were sinners will also work together with us unto our being kept in his righteousness; for through him also we have had the access; and he who brought near those who were afar off, much more will he hold fast those who have come near. And he brought us near unto this grace. How? In faith—that is, having brought in faith. And what is the grace? The attainment of all the good things that come to us through baptism. “Wherein we stand,” having the sure and unchangeable thing. For the divine good things stand fast, never falling away. And not only do we have these things which we have received, surely, but we also seek to receive others; for “We rejoice,” he says, “in the hope” of the good things to be given us hereafter; which, being unto the glory of God, will of necessity be given, even if for our sakes, yet that he himself at least may be glorified.

² And not only so, but we glory also in tribulations; knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope makes not ashamed. Not only, he says, do we glory in the good things to come, but, what is greater, also in the tribulations now present with us. For do not be troubled, he says, that we are afflicted; for this very thing is the boast of the Christian. And how? Because tribulation works patience; and patience works the thing tried to be approved; and the man, having become approved, and being confident in his good conscience, that he was afflicted for God’s sake, hopes for the recompenses for such tribulations. And such hope falls not away, nor puts to shame the one who hoped. For human hopes, not coming to pass, put to shame those who hoped; but in the divine hopes there is nothing of the kind. For he who gives the good things is immortal and good; and we who are about to receive them, even if we die, shall live; and henceforth there is nothing to hinder our hopes from coming to pass.

³ Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given to us. He gives assurance of the things to come from the love which God has already shown toward us. For he says all but this: Do not disbelieve that the hope which is in the divine things falls not away. For he who so loved us as to make us sons of God, without labor, even now already, through the Holy Spirit—how shall he not give crowns after the labors? The love of God, then, is shed abroad in our hearts—instead of, it appears lavish and rich, since we have in our hearts the Spirit which he gave us.

⁴ For while we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commends his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. He said that the love of God is shown to be shed abroad in our hearts through the Spirit, which we have in them, given by him; and he still further shows the greatness of the love from Christ’s dying for us while we were weak—that is, sinners (for sin is weakness, just as righteousness is health); and not only while we were sinners, but also “ungodly,” which is worse, although for a righteous man one will scarcely die. It is, then, of a surpassing love, to die for sinners and the ungodly. And the words “In due time” mean, in the fitting and foreordained time; for when it was opportune, then he died. Since, then, he died for love’s sake, and through his death justified us, much more will he henceforth save us from wrath, whom he has already justified. For he gave the greater thing, to justify; and will he not save from wrath? And to those saved from wrath he will also give the good things, by reason of his great love.

⁵ For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. He seems to say the same things; yet the reflections, being made by way of comparison, are different. For above he set down our being sinners, and, taking up afterward our being justified, he said by way of comparison, that having justified us while we were sinners through his death, much more, being justified, will he save us. But now, taking up the death of Christ and his life, he again brings forth the thought by way of comparison, saying thus: Then we were reconciled through his blood and death; but now we shall be saved by his life. For he who spared not his own Son, but gave him up to die for our reconciliation, how shall he not now, much more, save us by his life?

⁶ And not only so, but we also glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Not only were we saved, he says, but we also glory in God for this very thing, that, being ungodly, we were saved, and that then, through the blood of the Only-begotten. And we glory through the Lord Jesus Christ; for he himself is to us the cause of the glorying, who is also the cause of the reconciliation.

⁷ Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, in that all sinned. Having said that the Lord Jesus justified us, he runs back up to the root of the evil, sin and death; and he shows that these two things entered into the world through one man, Adam—namely, sin and death; and that again they were destroyed through one man, Christ. And what is the meaning of “In that all sinned”? That is, in Adam all sinned. For when he fell, even those who did not eat of the tree became, from him, mortal, as though they too had stumbled, because that one stumbled.

⁸ For until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is the type of him that was to come. He has it for his aim to show that even those who did not eat of the tree, nor sinned in like manner with Adam, yet nevertheless, on account of his sin, were reckoned as though they too had sinned, and died. He establishes this, then, thus: Sin prevailed until the giving of the law—that is, even before the law. What, then, was this sin? Was it the one from the transgression of the law? And how should there be such a sin, there being no law? For sin is then reckoned, when there is a law; and men, transgressing it, are of necessity said to sin. But assuredly “death reigned until Moses”—that is, even before the law was given; so that there was a sin through which death reigned. And it would not have reigned, had there not been some sin establishing it. Since, then, it was shown that there was as yet no sin from the transgression of the law, it remains that this was the sin of Adam, through which death reigned even over those who had not sinned, so far as in them lay (for not having received the law, nor transgressed it, neither are they said to have sinned); yet nevertheless having sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, and having become partakers with him in the stumbling, as with a forefather; who is the type of Christ. For just as the old Adam made all liable by his own stumbling, although they had not stumbled, so also Christ justified all, although they had not done things worthy of justification. For this reason “he is the type of him that was to come”—that is, of Christ.

⁹ But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of the one the many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift in the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, abounded unto the many. And not as it was through one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was of one unto condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. Not only so much, he says, did Christ profit, as Adam harmed. For if sin had so much strength that, one having stumbled, all who were of him, although they had not stumbled, were condemned, much more shall the grace of God and the Father—and not of him only, but also of his Son—abound lavishly, flowing unto the many. And will not the gift of God be as great as the condemnation through the one that sinned? “For the judgment”—that is, the easily-condemned sin—flowing “of one,” Adam, “unto condemnation”—that is, unto death, or also unto more sins—ever came to those who were of him, so that men were held fast in many sins and in death. “But the free gift is of many offences unto justification”—that is, grace took away not that one sin only, but also the sins that came in after it. For having given release of all the offences after the transgression, it became to us unto justification.

¹⁰ For if by the one offence death reigned through the one, much more they who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by one offence judgment came upon all men unto condemnation, even so by one righteous act the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. If the eating of the tree by one man made death to reign, much more shall we, who have received the abundance and lavishness of grace, and have been justified, live and reign through the one Jesus Christ, whose brethren we are, and have become members of his body, and, as a body to a head, so are united to him. For we received no simple and single-formed good thing, so as to be in want as regards the things to come; but the good things are to us an abundance of grace; just as if one owing much, and cast into prison together with wife and children, should then not only be freed from the prison and the debt, but should also receive ten thousand talents, and being brought into the royal courts, should be counted worthy of high honor, and become a son of the king. Summing up the thought, then, he says: “Therefore as by one offence the curse came upon all men” (that which he called above “judgment,” this he now calls “offence,” that is, the sin of Adam), “so also through the righteous act of the one, Christ,” grace came upon all men, giving them both justification instead of sin, and life instead of death.

¹¹ For as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous. It is not a tautology, as it seems; but having said above, “As by one offence, so also by one righteous act,” he now interprets what was the offence of the one, and says, that it was the disobedience, through which “the many were made sinners”—that is, liable to punishment, and condemned to death; and what is the righteous act of the one, that is, of Christ; and he says, that it was the obedience unto death, even the death of the cross; through which obedience, death being crushed, we were freed from its condemnation.

¹² Moreover the law entered in, that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Since he had shown that all were condemned from Adam, but saved from Christ, and it was likely that someone should be perplexed and say: What then did the law accomplish in so many years, if indeed Christ justified us? he says, that “The law entered in”—instead of, it was given for a season, not as the principal thing, nor properly; and having entered in, it made the offence more. For it gave many commandments, all of which, as men transgressed them, the offence abounded. And the word “That,” here, is not a logical cause, but is from the outcome. For the law was given so as to lessen and destroy sin; but it turned out the contrary, on account of the slothfulness of men, not the nature of the law. And since sin abounded through the law, through Christ the grace of God did much more abound, not only freeing from sins, but also justifying, and making heavenly, and adopting unto God. Wherefore he did not say, It abounded, but, “It did much more abound,” declaring its unstinting fulness.

¹³ That as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life. Having said that grace did much more abound, he shows also the reasonableness of the matter, that we may not disbelieve, and says, that Sin was in the rank of a king; but death was a soldier armed under it. If, then, sin reigned over us, having death as a kind of soldier, much more shall grace reign in us, bringing in righteousness, which is destructive of sin, and, through destroying sin, destroying together with it death also, and bringing in eternal life. As it were, then, a battle-array was set, and sin had death for its soldier, but grace had righteousness. Righteousness, then, slew the queen, sin, and with her death also; and thereafter eternal life was brought in.