Pelagius — Commentary on Scripture

Sacrilege is something committed only against God, because it is a violation of the sacred.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Paul realized that what he was saying was also to be found in the prophets, which is why he quotes them here.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Circumcision is of value as a sign if righteousness accompanies it; without righteousness the rest is useless. Or this [verse] may mean that circumcision enabled the Jew to live and escape condemnation in childhood before reaching the age of understanding. Or perhaps, because he set it in the context of the law, it is that … when the circumcision of the flesh ends, the true circumcision of the heart will come. A man breaks the law when he does not follow what is foretold in it.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 2:26

The visible needs the invisible but not the other way round, because the visible is an image of the invisible, while the invisible is the reality itself. Thus, the circumcision of the flesh needs the circumcision of the heart but not vice versa, because the reality does not need the image.… If circumcision has no value by itself, why was it instituted? First, in order to distinguish the people of God from among the Gentiles. This is why when they were by themselves in the desert they were not circumcised. Or perhaps so that their bodies might be identified in battle. The reason why they were marked in that part of the body was first so that they would not be disfigured in a part of the body which was open to public view, and second, because the promise of grace would make this part of the body honorable through chastity. Or perhaps it was because it signified that Christ would be born from its seed. He was destined to introduce spiritual circumcision, but until he was born, physical circumcision would continue.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 2:27

This either means that as long as the Jews continue their literal circumcision they reject the spiritual circumcision, or that they will be judged because they have not followed what the law said, viz., that by believing in Christ they might receive the true circumcision.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 2:28

This is the true Jew, for everything which was previously done externally was but an image of what was meant to happen internally.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 2:29

This is foretold in the law: “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God,” and again: “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and remove the foreskin of your heart,” not according to the letter of the law but according to the New Testament, which examines the inner secrets which only God can see.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:3

The faithfulness meant here is that to the promises made to Abraham, to whom it was said that “in your seed all the nations will be blessed.”

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:4

“Every man” means the majority. Paul’s opponents had quoted this text as if David had meant: “For this reason have I sinned, that thou might appear just in judging me.” But the true meaning is that God promised to punish sinners without showing favoritism and that some thought his delay in doing so amounted to a lie. God prevails when he judges the deeds of those from whom no one thought vengeance would ever be exacted. Or it may also mean that God has shown that he is concerned about mankind … and that he has overthrown those who wrongly suggest that he is not interested in human affairs.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:9

Paul finds no reason for saying that the Jews are better than others.… Both Jews and Gentiles are under sin—something we not only deduce by reason but also corroborate by the witness of the Jews themselves.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:10

The psalm from which this quote is taken speaks of the fool. Paul shows that witness to the fool will be fulfilled particularly at the coming of Christ. When he appears, not one righteous person will be found.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:11

One who does not understand does not seek. Or perhaps it is that one does not understand because one does not seek. One seeks for God by enquiring after his will.… The sinner has not known the will of his master. “Know me, know my will,” as the popular saying goes.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:13

The stench of their teaching and flattery contaminates and kills those who listen. This is why a grave is carefully sealed, so that it does not continue to breed disease among the living by its odor. They express one thing with their mouths but another with their hearts. The venom of asps is mentioned because it is supposed to be the most harmful.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:14

There is not just one kind of malicious talk. What is said out of malice is without doubt said recklessly.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:19

In case the Jews might claim that these verses of the psalm were spoken about the Gentiles, Paul indicates that what has been said in the law has been said to those who are under the law. Of course, it is a question as to who is meant by saying that the fool claims that there is no God. The Jews did not say this in words but in deeds, for they claimed to know God but denied it by their behavior. Paul is not talking to the Gentiles here, because he has already made similar statements about them.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:20

By the works of the law Paul means circumcision, the sabbath and the other ceremonies, which had less to do with righteousness than with carnal pleasure. Through the law comes neither forgiveness nor sin itself but rather recognition of sin. Through the law a man realizes what sin is, either because the natural law had been forgotten or because before the written law was given, the lesser sins [i.e., the sins which were more harmful to oneself than others, like lust, drunkenness, etc.] were not recognized as sins.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:21

The righteousness which has been given to us freely by God, not acquired by our effort, has been made plain without the written law, and having been hidden in the law has been revealed with greater clarity by the examples of Christ, which are more obvious. The law and the prophets foretold that this righteousness would come in the last times, or perhaps this means that they both bore witness to the recognition of sin.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:22

This refers to the faith by which one believes in Jesus Christ. In this there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:23

All sinners need the glory of God because they do not have their own.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 3:24

We have been justified without the works of the law, through baptism. In this way God has freely forgiven our sins even though we are undeserving. Christ has redeemed us with the blood of his death.… For we were all condemned to death, to which Christ handed himself over, though he had no need to, in order to redeem us by his blood.… Note also that Christ did not merely buy us but bought us “back,” because we were once his by nature, even though we were separated from him by our sins. If we stop sinning, our redemption will indeed be profitable for us.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS