English · KJV

Gennadius of Constantinople

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 53 passages across 3 books

Commentary

21–40 of 53
Romans 6:6

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

“Our old self” refers to our perishable and passible bodies.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 6:12

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Here Paul shows that the reason we no longer sin is not that after baptism we are no longer made of flesh. Up to this point, we claim Christ’s perfection by faith only and not by experience. For we have not yet become impassible or immortal.… Therefore Paul does not say: “Do not sin,” but rather: “Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies.”

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 7:6

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Paul sets “Spirit” against “letter,” “newness” against “oldness,” and by these names shows us how different the two things are.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 7:12

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

“Law” and “commandment” are synonymous in this case. The commandment is called “holy” because it takes us away from sin and sets us apart from evil; “just” because with its righteousness it honors those who obey it and punishes those who transgress it; “good” because it leads us to the good, and this because of the goodness given by God. The law is not sin just because it shows me what is evil but the opposite.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 7:17

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

All this is reminiscent of what was said by the Lord in the Gospels: “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 7:24

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Paul did not say “bad” or “evil man” but rather “wretched man” … for having shown that this person contemplated the good with his mind but was drawn toward evil by the passion of the flesh, he presents him as more deserving of mercy than of punishment.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Look how great Christ’s grace is in that he has set us free from condemnation.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 8:2

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

We have been made heirs of a pain-free and immortal life by the free gift of the Spirit and have all become spiritual, being set free from sin and the death which it causes.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 8:6

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

“Death” is estrangement and punishment from God; “life” is immortality and “peace” is fellowship with him.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 9:1

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

The Jews who opposed the apostles and their message said that one or another of the following propositions must be true. Either the gospel is a lie, or God is a liar.… For God promised Abraham that he would bless his offspring, but now he has shown favor to impure and foreign people, i.e., the Gentiles, instead of us. Now if your preaching is a way out of these promises, as you claim, then it is clear that God lied to our ancestors. On the other hand, if it is wrong to speak of God in this way, then you and your message are a lie.It was to answer this kind of charge that the apostle Paul wanted to work out an alternative position and demonstrate both that the message of the gospel was true and that God was not lying.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 9:13

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

It was many years after the event that Scripture testified to this in the words of the prophet Haggai [Malachi]. Paul added this quotation because he wanted to show that God’s judgment is just, for while it was in accordance with his foreknowledge, the lives of both men later followed these different paths.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 9:32

Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

Paul calls the Lord Christ a stumbling stone because those who did not accept the new covenant in him stumbled over him and by their unbelief fell from the grace of justification which was given to men through him.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 10:2

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

Having once been one of them himself, Paul understood and bore witness that the Jews fought against the gospel out of zeal for God, yet it was a zeal uninformed by true knowledge.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 10:4

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Christ fulfilled the law’s purpose by granting the righteousness which comes by faith in him to all those who accepted him.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 10:5

For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

Comparing the law with the glory of grace, Paul says that even Moses could not have been justified by the law unless he fulfilled all the commandments of the law.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 11:6

And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

The apostle has expressed himself in this way … because he wants to show that the law and grace are completely incompatible and that the two of them can never go together. Of necessity, one must drive the other out.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 11:8

(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

The spirit of stupor prevented them from making the hard choice of repentance and conversion.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 11:16

For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

Paul calls the Lord Christ the “first fruits,” because he was one of them according to the flesh, and through his resurrection he became the first to claim the inheritance.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 11:26

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

When their sins are taken away and forgiven their salvation will be clear and indisputable.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

As the fullness of God’s mercies toward us is limitless, I am obliged and I challenge us all to be set apart and offered to God as a complete sacrifice. For the present sacrifice does not lead to death, as did that under the law, but by making us holy it leads to eternal life, because it is pleasing to God and the offering of rational creatures is much more valuable than that of dumb ones.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

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