Oecumenius

Late Patristic · AD 500–800 · d. AD 550 · 377 passages across 5 books

Commentary

1–20 of 377

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

God gave them up because that is what they wanted.

Romans 4:19

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

Paul was right to say: “about a hundred,” because Abraham was not a hundred but only ninety-nine years old.

Romans 5:5

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 to be understood that the indwelling of the adorable and thrice-Holy Spirit is found only in our minds and hearts.

Romans 5:12

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:

So that no one can accuse God of injustice, in that we all die because of the fall of Adam, Paul adds: “and so all have sinned.” Adam is the origin and the cause of the fact that we have all sinned in imitation of him.

Romans 5:13

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

When Paul uses the word sin here he is thinking primarily of the transgression of the law of Moses and its commandments, e.g., circumcision, sabbath observance, the food laws, etc. Nevertheless, sin in general already existed in human nature, and it was counted. By this I mean things like murder, robbery, child abuse and so on.… For there was a law of nature which covered things like that.

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.

Christ’s obedience was greater than Adam’s disobedience in the following sense. Death, which originated with the sin of Adam, had our cooperation in the sins which we all committed, and so it was able to gain control over us. For if men had remained free of all wrongdoing, death would not have been in control. But the grace of Christ has come to us all without our cooperation and shows that the grace of the resurrection is such that not only believers, who glory in their faith, will be resurrected, but also unbelievers, both Jews and Greeks. Something which works in us against our will is therefore obviously greater than something which works in us with our cooperation.

Romans 6:5

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

See the goodness of God. We have died Christ’s death metaphorically, but we shall share his resurrection truly.

Romans 8:9

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

The Spirit is common to the Father and the Son.

Romans 9:17

For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

God’s power is patience, and it is a very great power indeed. For who would not be overawed by the enormous patience of God? For he says that it is for this reason that he has agreed to let Pharaoh rule, that it may be shown how patient he is.

Romans 9:22

What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

Of course God is not subject to the passion of wrath. It is when he does what we do when we are angry that he calls it “wrath,” so that we will understand what he means.

Romans 9:29

And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

This may also be said of Christ, which is how Cyril of Alexandria interpreted it.

Romans 14:5

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

This is not to be made an article of faith, as Paul himself says.

Romans 14:16

Let not then your good be evil spoken of:

Even if you are teaching correctly, your argument may become the cause of blasphemy.

Romans 14:20

For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.

God did his work on the cross, but now you are destroying it.

1 Corinthians 2:8

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

This applies to Herod and Pilate. It does not apply in the same way to the high priests and scribes, because they knew that Jesus was the Christ. They were more like the workers in the vineyard who said: “This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the vineyard will be ours.”.

1 Corinthians 2:12

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

I think that by “spirit of the world” Paul means human wisdom and learning.

1 Corinthians 2:16

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The “mind of Christ” refers to the Father. Paul is saying that we have the Father of Christ in us.

1 Corinthians 6:14

And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

Paul did not write this because of Christ’s resurrection, which had already taken place, but because of ours, so that we might believe and silence our opponents.

1 Corinthians 6:15

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

Other sins like anger and greed come from the soul, but fornication has its roots in the flesh. Paul makes special mention of it here because it was the problem which he had to deal with at the time. Fornication is not self-evidently the worst sin of all.

1 Corinthians 6:16

What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

A man guilty of fornication and the impurity which comes from it insults his marriage and his wife. He sins against his own body and consequently against his wife, because the two are one flesh.

All writers

Who was this?

Oecumenius wrote the earliest complete Greek commentary on Revelation that survives, most likely in the first half of the sixth century. Little is known of his life. He may be the Count Oecumenius who exchanged letters with Severus of Antioch in those years. He was long confused with a tenth-century bishop of Trikka, and the commentary was first printed only in 1928. Andrew of Caesarea knew it and answered several of its readings in his own commentary. Short comments on Romans and Corinthians, kept in later collections, are also credited to him.

This summary was written by hand. The passages are quotations from published English texts, with a link to the source where there is one.

Wikipedia

Works cited

Commentary on Revelation 342
Pauline Commentary From the Greek Church 34