(Verse 4.) That the justification of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. He says that sin was condemned so that the justification of the law given by Moses might be fulfilled in us; for, taken out of the Law’s bondage, we have become its friends, since those who are justified are friends of the Law. And how is justification fulfilled in us, unless when the remission of all sins is given, so that, our sins being taken away, a man may be seen to be justified, serving the law of God with his mind? This is not to walk after the flesh, but after the spirit: that the devotion of the mind, which is the spirit, should not consent to the desire of sin; for the sin that is within sows its lusts through the flesh. But if sin has been condemned by the Saviour, how is it within? It has been condemned by the Saviour, and condemned in three ways. In the first place He condemned sin when He did not sin, standing apart from sin. Next, on the cross, sin is said to have been condemned because it sinned. Hence its authority was taken from it, as one that had sinned — the authority by which it held men in the underworld because of Adam’s offence — so that from then on it dare not hold those who bear the sign of the cross. Thirdly, He condemned sin when He made offences void by granting the remission of sins. For when the sinner deserved to be condemned for the sin he had committed, He, by pardoning him, condemned the sin in him. So if we too, after the Saviour’s example, do not sin, we condemn sin.

(Verse 5.) For they that are after the flesh savour the things of the flesh. He says this because he who complies with the suggestion that comes about through the flesh savours the things of the flesh. For what he follows seems sweet to him, as against all right he craves the practice and the opinion of the flesh’s error; for by “flesh” is signified worldly error in whatever form. But they that are after the spirit mind the things of the spirit. It is plain that he who holds himself back from the desires of the flesh lives according to the law of the mind; for it seems profitable to him to savour what agrees with the Law.

(Verse 6.) For the prudence of the flesh is death. The prudence of the flesh is sin, which begets death. It is called prudence, though it is a foolish thing, because to worldly men the errors conceived from visible things, whether in thought or in act, against the law of God seem to be prudence; above all because all their industry and cunning are directed to sinning. For they think themselves wise if they attend to this more carefully, whereas nothing is more foolish than to sin. There is also another prudence of the flesh, which, puffed up with worldly reasonings, denies that anything can happen which lacks a worldly reason. Hence it mocks the Virgin’s giving birth and the resurrection of the flesh. But the prudence of the spirit is life and peace. This is truly wisdom, which gains life and peace; for he who follows spiritual things, despising the allurements of the present life, will have eternal life with peace, that is, without disquiet, where there is neither disturbance nor punishment.

(Verse 7.) Because the wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. He did not say that the flesh is hostile, but the wisdom of the flesh; that is, not the substance, but either evil deeds, or the thinking or assertion that is born of error. The wisdom of the flesh, then, is in the first place the reasoning about the stars invented by men, and next the delight in visible things. These are hostile to God, because they make the Lord of the elements and the maker of the world equal to the things He has made, maintaining that nothing can happen beyond what the reason of the world contains. Therefore they deny that God brought it about that a Virgin should give birth, or that the bodies of the dead should rise again; “for it is foolish,” they say, “that God should have done anything beyond what man understands.” O wise men of the world, who think that God ought not to act otherwise than the creation He has founded acts, so that He Himself is thought to be like His creatures! They are so blinded that they do not see what an insult they offer to God. For the work which He deigned to do for the proclaiming of His praise they disparage, declaring it incredible and foolish; and so this prudence of the flesh cannot be subject to the law of God, for they whet their zeal for this very end, to fight against the deeds of God.

(Verses 8–9.) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. The wise of the world are in the flesh, because they devote themselves to the wisdom of the world, by which they fight against the law of God. For whatever is against the law of God is carnal, because it is of the world; for the whole world is flesh, since everything visible is reckoned to the flesh: these things are akin to the flesh — indeed they are the elements of the flesh. And so he who complies with worldly things is in the flesh. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Though placed in the flesh, they are said not to be in the flesh if, agreeing with the apostle John, they do not love worldly things; for a man’s judgement, as it were, shapes his nature, so that he is called by the name of what he thinks. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. He speaks doubtfully here because, having been led into the Law, they were not yet perfect in faith; but he saw in them a hope of perfection. Hence he sometimes speaks to them as to the perfect, sometimes as to those who are yet to be perfected; that is, sometimes he praises them, sometimes he admonishes them: so that if they live as has been said above, according to the law of nature, they may be said to be in the spirit; for the Spirit of God cannot dwell in one who follows carnal things. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Him whom he called above the Spirit of God he now calls the Spirit of Christ, because all things that are the Father’s are the Son’s. He says this, then: that he who is subject to the errors mentioned above does not belong to Christ, for he does not have His Spirit, which he had received in order to be a son of God. For the Holy Spirit forsakes a man for two reasons: when he has either the mind of the flesh or its deeds. So by these warnings he urges them to a good manner of life; for although men are raised up by the goodness of God, yet those who are called sons of God are weighed down with guilt unless they so live as not to seem unworthy of the name granted them.

(Verse 10.) And the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of justification. He declares that the body of those whom the Holy Spirit forsakes is dead because of sin, but that the suffering of their death does not reach Him, that is, the Spirit. For the Spirit of God does not know how to sin; for He is given unto justification, to justify by His help. Since, then, He does not know how to sin, He is life; for He cannot die, since death comes through sin. And so the sinner will harm himself, not the Spirit whom he has received; for the Spirit, who wills to justify, will not be to blame. For this is the sign of justification in a man: that by Him who dwells in him he is seen, being justified, to be a son of God; for the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in a deceitful man, nor in a body made subject to sins, as Solomon says (Wisdom 1:4). But if anyone lives carnally once again, he is forsaken by the Holy Spirit and will die in his unrighteousness. In saying “the body”, he means that the whole man is dead because of sin; just as by the prophet too the whole man is signified under the word “soul”, the whole by a part, for he says: The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:4). Surely not without the body? The one put “body” for the whole man, the other “soul”. And another prophet signified the whole man by saying “flesh”, for he says: All flesh shall see the salvation of God (Isaiah 40:5). And since the Holy Spirit is given to the one who is baptized, He is also said to be that man’s spirit. Therefore by comparison with Him he called the rest of the man “body”, because the soul, when it sins, is called flesh; for it is called by the name of what it follows, as I have often said already. In the same way the Lord too, in His passion, wishing it to be understood that it was not His divinity that feared, but that the sorrow was the man’s, said: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41), so as to signify God in the spirit and man in the flesh.

(Verse 11.) But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. He treats the same sense on the same principle; for he said “bodies”, and by them he means men. And since he said above that the body dies the second death because of sin, here again he has promised that because of a good life mortal bodies will be quickened, that is, the whole man.

(Verse 12.) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. It is right and plain that we ought not to comply with the devising of Adam, who acted carnally, and who, sinning first, left death to us by right of inheritance; but that we ought to serve the law of Christ, who by a spiritual means redeemed us from the death spoken of above. For to Him we are debtors, who, when we were defiled with carnal vices, washed us through the laver of the Spirit, justified us and made us sons of God. For formerly, being in the flesh, we lived after the example of Adam, subject to sins; but now, having been set free, we ought to render our service to the Redeemer. This service, indeed, profits not Him, who needs nothing, but it gains eternal life for us; for He so loves us that He reckons to His own account what profits us.

(Verse 13.) For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. Nothing is truer: if we live after Adam, we shall die; for Adam, by transgressing, sold himself to sin, being reckoned to the flesh. For every sin is flesh; for vices and offences are reckoned to the flesh because they are born from outside, through the senses — that is, from hearing, sight, touch, smell or taste. For every thought that looks outward runs into offence; for the first man’s sin too was born from outside. To live after the flesh, then, is death; for every act of the flesh is outside the Law. But if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live. He wants the body to be governed by the law of the soul. Hence he shows that if, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the deeds and designs of the flesh, which are contrived at the instigation of the powers of this world, are held in check so that they do not gain the power to act, life is bestowed. For they are said to be put to death if they cease; for they do not exist if they cease, since sin does not exist if it is not done.

(Verse 14.) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. He says that those are led by the Spirit of God in whose deeds the designs of the principalities and powers of this world are not seen; for those in whose deeds they are seen are not sons of God but of the devil, because whosoever is born of God doth not sin, says the apostle John (1 John 3:9). For this is what proves the sons of God and those of the devil. Hence the Lord said to the Jews, because they were doing evil and plotting parricide: Ye are of your father the devil (John 8:44).

(Verse 15.) For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. He says this because, having received the Holy Spirit, we have been stripped of the fear that comes from evil deeds, so that from now on we may do nothing of the kind which would make us fear again. For before we were under fear, because when the Law was given all were constituted guilty. By the spirit of fear, then, he meant the Law, because it set men in fear on account of sin. But the law of faith, which is signified in the spirit of adoption, is a law of security, because it rescues us from fear by forgiving sins, and so has made us secure; and in this way it is called a spirit not of fear. But ye have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Set free from fear by the grace of God, we have received the spirit of adoption of sons, so that, considering what we were and what we have obtained by the gift of God, we may order our life with great care, lest the name of God the Father suffer injury in us, and lest, like ungrateful men, we fall into all the things we have escaped. For we have obtained such grace that we dare to say to God, “Abba”, that is, “Father”! And so he warns us that the confidence we have received must not turn into rashness; for if we display a life unlike this cry by which we say “Abba, Father”, we do God an injury in calling Him Father. For He has granted us in His goodness what is above our nature, so that what we are unworthy of by our substance we may merit by our works.

(Verse 16.) The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the sons of God. When we do well, and by that very fact the Holy Spirit abides in us, the Spirit of God bears witness to this cry and to our mind, with which we cry out in prayer, “Abba”, that is, “Father”, while He abides in us — witness that we do not say “Abba, Father” rashly. Let us, then, show a life worthy of this cry; and this is the testimony of sons, if the Father’s mark is seen in them through the Spirit.

(Verse 17.) And if sons, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. Since God the Father can in no way be said to have died, while Christ His Son is said to have died by reason of the incarnation, how is it that He who died is said to be heir of One who ever lives, when heirs are surely heirs only of the dead? But this belongs to the reckoning of humanity, not of divinity. For with God what among us is called an inheritance is the father’s gift passed on to obedient sons, so that one living may be heir of one living, by his own merit and not by the necessity of a death. Hence the Lord too in the Gospel indicated, though in a parable, that a living man divided his substance among the living, by a reckoning no more human than divine (Luke 15:12); for a parable is not put together on an absurd basis. So, to make us ready to obey God the Father, he exhorts us with this hope, saying that we shall be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; so that, since the hope of reward is great, we may be all the more devoted to the things of God, putting the care of worldly things in second place. And what it is to be joint-heir with the Son of God we are taught by the apostle John, for he says among other things: We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2). If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. He declares how we can become joint-heirs with Christ, saying: If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. Let us see, then, what it is to suffer with Him. To suffer with Him is to endure persecutions for the hope of what is to come, and to crucify the flesh with its vices and lusts, that is, to spurn the pleasures and pomps of the world. For when all these things have died in a man, he crucifies the world, believing in the life of the age to come, in which he hopes to be a joint-heir with Christ.

(Verse 18.) For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us. This exhortation belongs with what went before; by it he shows that the things which the faithless can inflict here are small compared with the reward decreed in the age to come. That is why he bids us be ready for every kind of ruin, because great rewards have been promised in return for these things; so that in tribulation the soul may console itself and grow in hope. For we know some — indeed many — who, for present gains that will profit them only a little while, undergo labours that are harsh and hard; and sometimes they cannot reach what they are striving for, because life itself is frail and uncertain. For what profits do sailors entrust themselves to such great storms and tempests, though they know that in these death is before their eyes rather than life? And soldiers, in the hope of a present reward, though victory is uncertain, do not hesitate to charge upon the sword. How much more, then, must we suffer for Christ, whose benefits have even been bestowed on us beforehand, and who promises, together with glory, great rewards in return for small, heavenly for earthly, and everlasting for temporal! We are said to suffer for Christ, though what we suffer profits not Him but us; but He commands this because He seeks an occasion for rewarding us. For like a good or lavish man, He seeks a reason to give generously, whether to the unworthy or to the bashful. And so, that those very ruins may be endured, He Himself supplies the strength.

(Verse 19.) For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God. Having said that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy of the glory that is to come, he added that the creation is waiting for this: for the number of the sons of God destined for life to be made up; so that then at last the creation itself too may be set free from the bondage of corruption and cease from its defect.

(Verse 20.) For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly. The creation, placed in the power of its Lord and Creator, was certainly not subjected to vanity of its own accord; for its being subjected will profit not itself but us. In what, then, has it been subjected to vanity, except that the things it brings forth are perishable? For it works to produce fruits that are corruptible; and corruption itself is vanity. For all things that come to birth in the world are weak, perishable and corruptible, and so they are vain. They are vain because they cannot hold their state; for all things, losing their form through flux, are forever returning into themselves, merged back into nature. Solomon too says of these things that all this is vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Nor does David disagree with them, saying: Surely every man living is altogether vanity (Psalm 39:5). For to eat and drink and to attend to the affairs of the world — is not that vanity? And yet that very vanity is useful; for it profits men born into the world, so that, exercised by these things in their bodies, they may learn the mystery of the Creator. It is in comparison with eternal things that they are vain; for in themselves they are good, since they are necessary.

(Verse 21.) But by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. What the hope is he adds at once, saying: Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. Since the creation cannot gainsay its Creator, it was subjected for His sake, and not without hope. For, being set in labour, it has this consolation, that it will have rest when all have believed whom God knows will believe — for whose sake, indeed, He subjected it.

(Verse 22.) For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now. To travail is to be in pain. The sense is this: that the whole creation, through its daily labour, groans and is in pain until now. “Until now” means for as long as this is read. For the very elements perform their tasks with anxiety: for the sun and the moon fulfil the courses appointed them not without labour, and the breath of animals is constrained with great groaning to render their services; for we see them, groaning, forced unwillingly to labour. All these things, then, are waiting for rest, to be set free from servile work. But if this were a servitude that served to win the favour of God, the creation would rejoice and not be in pain; but because it has been subjected to the bondage of corruption for our sake, it is in pain. For it sees its works perish every day; for every day its work rises and sets. Rightly, then, is it in pain, since its working leads not to eternity but to corruption. As far as can be understood, then, they are very anxious about our salvation, knowing that their own deliverance is hastened if only we acknowledge our Maker the sooner. Knowing these things, then, let us show ourselves worthy with all care and diligence, so that we may be an example to others as well, moved not only by pity for ourselves but also for the sake of the creation, which groans as it suffers wrongs day and night; for we are wont to be more zealous in the causes of others.

(Verse 23.) And not only it, but we ourselves also, which have the receptacle of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the redemption of our body. After the created world, he added that we too are waiting for this, and groaning to God, that all of us who are destined for life may be set free from here; for to Christians this world is a sea. For as the sea is stirred up by contrary winds, and leaps up, and makes a tempest for those who sail on it, so too the world, set in motion by the conspiracy of the faithless, troubles the minds of the faithful. And the enemy does this with such variety that one does not know what to guard against first. For if the ruling power ceases to be against us, he stirs up the minds of private persons; if these too are restrained, he kindles a fire through members of the household; and if that is laid to rest, by his art he makes discord among brothers themselves; so that a house battered at its four corners may fall in somewhere. For this reason Christians must with one purpose flee from here; for they ought to follow the example of holy Simeon, who, knowing that war was being waged here against faithlessness, asked to be let depart in peace (Luke 2:29). This is what we pray for when each of us prays for all, that the kingdom of God may come (Matthew 6:10); for then will be the deliverance of our body, that is, of all Christians; for under “body” he meant all, because we are members one of another. The Apostle, indeed, as a man of God, thinks well of us when he says that we groan to be set free from here, as Simeon too groaned; but I see that we are held fast by the delights of the world. Through what has been said above, then, he shows what violence the creation suffers for our sake; since, when we, whom its service profits, and who have the Spirit of God as our helper, groan to be set free from here so as to obtain the promised rewards, how much more does the creation groan, which neither has the Holy Spirit as its helper nor labours in its own cause! Add to this that it sees the things which it brings forth by its labour, to serve as food for the servants of God, offered against all right to idols! Hence it is in greater pain, and longs to be set free the sooner, knowing that this redounds to the injury of the Creator.

(Verse 24.) For we are saved by hope. He says this because by hoping for what God has promised in Christ we have made merit for ourselves, so as to be set free. So we have been set free in hope; because what is to come will be nothing other than what we believe. But hope that is seen is not hope. It is plain that what is seen is not hope, but what is not seen; and so believers are to be rewarded, because they hope for what they do not see.

(Verse 25.) For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. There is no doubt that the things hoped for are things not seen; for it is things to come that are waited for. This waiting is patience, which earns much from God; so that, waiting from day to day, a man longs for the kingdom of God to come, and does not doubt because it is delayed.

(Verse 26.) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth the infirmity of our prayer. For he mentioned above that we groan and pray for deliverance; and being in pain, we either want what was said to lie far in the future to happen at once, or want those things to be quickly taken away through which we come to merit; and we seem to pray with a feeble prayer, since its effect is denied. For a prayer that asks against reason is weak; and so he shows that this weakness is helped by the Holy Spirit who has been given us. And He helps by not allowing those things to come about which are either asked for before they ought to be asked for, or are contrary to our good. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought. He has made it clear that by the weakness of our prayer he means ignorance; for we are deceived into thinking that what we ask for is profitable, when it is not. So when this same Apostle prayed three times that his temptations might cease from him, because they were frequent, the Lord said to him: My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9) — that is, a man lays up merit in this way, when he is found patient in tribulations. He learned, then, that what he was asking for was against him. And sometimes a petition is proud and foolish, as was that of the two apostles James and John, to whom, when they asked for what was unfitting and beyond measure, it was said: Ye know not what ye ask (Matthew 20:22). But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. The Spirit of the Lord is said to make request for us not in human speech but after the manner of His own nature. For when that which is of God speaks to God, it must speak in the manner in which He speaks from whom it is. For no one speaks to his fellow citizen in another tongue. For the Spirit who has been given us pours Himself over our prayers, so as to cover our want of skill and our want of foresight with His own motion, and to ask of God for us the things that profit us.

(Verse 27.) And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what the Spirit desireth, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to God. It is plain that to God, from whom nothing is silent or hidden, the prayer of all spirits is known: how much more that of the Holy Spirit, who is certainly of the same substance, and speaks not by the striking of the air, nor as the angels do, nor as the rest of created things, but as befits His divinity! He speaks to God, then, when to us He seems to be silent; for He both sees when He is not seen, and asks for those things which He knows please God and profit us. And this same Spirit intervenes for us at the very time when He knows that we are asking for things contrary to our good through ignorance, not through boastfulness.

(Verse 28.) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called saints according to His purpose. He says this because, even if those who love God have prayed unskilfully, it will not harm them; for God, knowing the purpose of their heart and their want of skill, does not impute to them their asking for what is against them, but grants those things which ought to be given to those who love God. Hence the Lord too says: Your Father, He says, knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him (Matthew 6:8). Those, then, are called according to His purpose whom God foreknew, as believers, would be fit for Himself; so that they were known before they believed.

(Verse 29.) For whom He did foreknow. Those whom He foreknew would be devoted to Him He chose to lay hold of the promised rewards; so that those who seem to believe, and do not abide in the faith they have begun, are denied to be chosen by God; for those whom God has chosen abide with Him. For there is one who is chosen for a time, as Saul and Judas were, not by foreknowledge but on the ground of present righteousness. To be conformed to the image of His Son. He says this because they are predestined for the age to come for this purpose, that they may become like the Son of God, as I have already recalled above. That He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Rightly firstborn, since before every creature He was not made but born; and after His pattern God deigned to adopt men as sons to Himself. Christ is also the firstborn in the regeneration. He is also the firstborn from the dead, a birth whose nature is not known. And He is firstborn as He ascends into the heavens after His victory. He is called firstborn in all things, then, and our brother, because He deigned to be born a man; but He is Lord, because He is our God, as the prophet Jeremiah says: This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of Him (Baruch 3:35).

(Verse 30.) Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called. To call is to help one who is thinking about the faith, or to prick the heart of one whom He knows will hear. And whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also magnified. He says the same as above: that those whom God foreknew to be fit for Himself abide as believers, because it cannot be otherwise than that those whom God foreknew He also justified, and so also magnified them, that they may become like the Son of God. As for the rest, whom God did not foreknow, He takes no care of them in this grace, because He did not foreknow that they would be fit. And if they believe, or are chosen for a time because they seem good — lest righteousness should seem to be disregarded — they do not abide so as to be magnified; as was the case with Judas Iscariot, or with those seventy-two who were chosen, and after taking offence went back from the Saviour (John 6:66).

(Verse 31.) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? It is plain that, since God bears witness for us, there is none who would dare to accuse us, when He Himself, who is judge, foreknew us beforehand and judged us fit.

(Verse 32.) He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. He urges that we ought to be secure because of faith, so as to show that God, as one who knew beforehand, delivered His Son to death for us before we had become faithful instead of ungodly. How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? He says that God decreed long ago that those who believe in Christ should be rewarded. For if He has bestowed on us what is greater and more excellent — delivering up His true and most dear Son for our sake while we were still ungodly — why should it not be believed that He will do the lesser thing for us now that we believe in Him? For the rewards are already prepared for believers; for it is a lesser thing to give us all things with Him than to deliver Him to death for our sake.

(Verse 33.) Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is evident that no one dares or is able to reverse the judgement and foreknowledge of God concerning us. For who is there that can disapprove what God approves, since no one is equal to God? It is God that justifieth (Isaiah 50:8). This is in the prophet Isaiah, and he sets it down here as though it were his own; because there is no one else who can find fault with what God approves. Or might God Himself perhaps accuse us? But He cannot accuse what He justifies.

(Verse 34.) And who is he that shall condemn? Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. He denies that God accuses us, since He justifies us, and that Christ can condemn us, since He loves us with such love that He died for us, and, having risen again, ever pleads our cause with the Father. His request cannot be disregarded, because He is at the right hand of God, that is, in the honour of being God; so that, secure as regards God the Father and as regards Christ His Son, who will be the judge, we may rejoice in faith in Him. Hence comes that word which He speaks to the apostle Peter: Behold, Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not (Luke 22:31–32). It is in this way, then, that the Saviour intercedes for us. For knowing the shamelessness and the haughtiness of our adversary, when he bestirs himself against us if we do not consent to him, the Saviour intercedes for us, lest he presume to do anything violent to us, so that his insolence may be kept off. Yet the Son is said to intercede for this reason, though He Himself does all, and is equal to God the Father: since God is called one, Scripture speaks thus in order to distinguish the persons, lest the Father and the Son be thought a single person or a mere oneness; so that it may present the Son as not unequal, and yet set the Father first, because He is the Father and because all things are from Him.

(Verse 35.) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? That is, who will be able to turn us away from the love of Christ, who has bestowed on us such great and countless benefits? Shall tribulation? But it does not do so, because no torments overcome the love of a steadfast Christian. For a lover’s love is roused the more if he is forbidden to love the one whose benefits he has felt; for while they think they are sowing against His merits, they stir up the remembrance of His benefits.

(Verses 36–37.) Or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we overcome through Him that loved us. This is written in the forty-third psalm. It is plain, then, that all these things which he enumerates — ruin, tribulations, afflictions and death — cannot be set beside or compared with the love of Christ which He has sown in us. For the benefits we have from Him are far greater than all these things which seem adverse. For if we die for Him, which seems the heaviest of these things, He too died for us; but He died to profit us, whereas our death does not profit Him but us. For we lose a temporal life so that an eternal one may be paid back to us. And what wonder is it if servants die for a good Lord, when the Lord died for servants — and wicked ones? So His benefits prevail, and encourage the mind to persevere because of Him who loved us.

(Verses 38–39.) For I am persuaded, that neither death. This confidence comes from the pledge of Christ, by which He promised to help in tribulation the faith that is dedicated to Him. Nor life, nor angel, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These are all the things that are brought to bear by the devil to draw us away; and he mentions them in order to fortify us, so that if they come, trusting in our hope and in the help of Christ, we may fight against him armed with faith. For what if death is inflicted on us? Is it not the greatest gain to find an occasion of going the sooner into the promised kingdom? Nor, if the present life is promised to us furnished with high rank, ought it to turn us away from the hope of Christ’s benefit, since we know that He will profit us not only in the future but in the present as well. Nor indeed, if an angel shows himself to us to lead us astray, suborned by the deceits of his father the devil, ought he to prevail against us, since we know that nothing is to be set before Christ, the Angel of great counsel (Isaiah 9:6). Nor, if a power is wrought by someone, as one is said to have been wrought by Simon Magus, who is said to have flown up into the air in order to make the people of Christ stumble, ought it to lessen our faith, since we know that the Saviour, taken up by a cloud that served Him, ascended above all the heavens (Acts 1:9). Nor, if he shows himself to us in a height — of which the apostle John says: Know ye not the height of Satan? (Revelation 2:24) — ought he to draw us away from devotion to the Lord Jesus, whom we know came down from heaven to unite earthly things with spiritual. Nor, if by the illusion with which he plans to lead us astray he shows us a depth wondrous in its horror, so that in terror we might perhaps yield to him — not even so is it right that we should break faith with Christ, whom we know descended for our sake into the depth of the earth, and, having crushed death, set the human race free. Nor, if he promises us things to come, as he promised Eve (Genesis 3:4), shall we give him our assent and be parted from Christ, whom we believe and know to be God by power and by nature. Nor, if by the art and subtlety of his cunning he fashions some other creature for an hour, as Jamnes and Mambres fashioned them before Pharaoh (2 Timothy 3:8), is it fitting that by these things he should call us away from God, the true Creator, who, as we are well aware, founded through Christ His Son a creation that exists for ever. To some it seems that he spoke of idols as “another creature”; but that is not true, because he must have meant that creature which Satan seems to fashion as an object of wonder to lead men astray. For which of the faithful would be led astray towards those things from which he withdrew when their error was laid bare? But Satan plans and fashions those things by which he might lead astray even the elect. There is nothing, then, that can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus; for God has shown His love to us in Christ, in delivering Him up for us.