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Augustine of Hippo

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 7,530 passages across 62 books

Commentary

7,281–7,300 of 7,530
Romans 5:3

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

Paul says this in order to lead us gradually to the love of God, which he says that we have by the gift of the Spirit. He shows us that all those things which we might attribute to ourselves ought to be attributed to God, who was pleased to give us his Holy Spirit through grace.

AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 26

Romans 5:5 · 4 passages

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

It is through love that we are conformed to God, and being so conformed and made like to him, and set apart from the world, we are no longer confounded by those things which should be subject to us. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

THE WAY OF LIFE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 1.13.23

It is not by ourselves but by the Holy Spirit who is given to us that this charity, shown by the apostle to be God’s gift, is the reason why tribulation does not destroy patience but rather gives rise to it.

GRACE AND FREE WILL 18.39

That God may be loved, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, not by the free choice whose spring is in ourselves but through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us.

THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 5.3

Who can hurt such a man? Who can subdue him? In prosperity he makes moral progress, and in adversity he learns to know the progress he has made. When he has an abundance of mutable goods he does not put his trust in them, and when they are taken away he gets to know whether or not they have taken him captive.

OF TRUE RELIGION 92

Romans 5:12 · 6 passages

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

As infants cannot help being descended from Adam, so they cannot help being touched by the same sin, unless they are set free from its guilt by the baptism of Christ.
If the souls of all men are derived from that one which was breathed into the first man … either the soul of Christ was not derived from that one, since he had no sin of any kind … or, if his soul was derived from that first one, he purified it in taking it for himself, so that he might be born of the virgin and might come to us without any trace of sin, either committed or transmitted.
Everyone, even little children, have broken God’s covenant, not indeed in virtue of any personal action but in virtue of mankind’s common origin in that single ancestor in whom all have sinned.
When a man is born, he is already born with death, because he contracts sin from Adam.

TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 49.12.2

All men for whom Christ died died in the sin of the first Adam, and all who are baptized into Christ die to sin.

AGAINST JULIAN 6.7.21

These words clearly teach that original sin is common to all men, regardless of the personal sins of each one.

AGAINST JULIAN 6.20.63

Romans 5:13

(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Paul said this in opposition to those who thought that sin could be taken away through the law. He says that sins were made apparent by the law, not abolished. He says not that there was no sin but only that it was not counted. Once the law was given, sin was not taken away, but it began to be counted.

AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 27-28

Romans 5:14 · 2 passages

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

This can be understood in two ways: either “in the likeness of Adam’s transgression, death reigned,” or (as surely it must be read) “death reigned over even those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression but sinned before the law was given.” Thus those who received the law may be understood to have sinned in the likeness of Adam’s transgression, because Adam also sinned after having received a law to obey…. Adam is the type of the one who was to come but in reverse, for as death came through Adam, so life came through our Lord.

Adam is the type of Christ but in reverse, because the good done by Christ to the regenerated is greater than the harm done by Adam to his descendants.
Romans 5:15

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

The gift excels in two ways: first, because grace abounds much more in that it bestows eternal life even though death reigns in the temporal sphere because of the death of Adam, and second, because by the condemnation of one sin the death of many came about through Adam, whereas by the forgiveness of many sins through our Lord Jesus Christ grace has been given for eternal life.

AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 29

Romans 5:16

And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

This is the difference: in Adam one sin was condemned, but by the Lord many sins have been forgiven.

AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 29

Romans 5:17

For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

“Much more will those reign” pertains to eternal life; “those who receive the abundance of grace” pertains to the forgiveness of many sins.

AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 29

Romans 5:18 · 3 passages

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

No one is born without the intervention of carnal concupiscence, which is inherited from the first man, who is Adam, and no one is reborn without the intervention of spiritual grace, which is given by the second man, who is Christ.
God wants all those to whom grace comes through the righteousness of the One unto justification of life to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

AGAINST JULIAN 4.8.42

Here Paul returns to his original argument, interrupted [from verse 12].

AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 29

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