Pelagius — Commentary on Scripture

Romans 4:16

The law does not forgive sins but condemns them, and therefore it cannot make all nations children of Abraham, because in the end all must be punished since all are found under sin. But faith makes all believers children of Abraham, because their sins have been forgiven by grace.

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Romans 4:17

Abraham is the father of all believers, not just of the nation of Israel. “Life to the dead” is given to those who are dead for the purpose of bearing children, which is the context of the present discussion.

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Romans 4:18

It was against all natural hope for a hundred-year-old man to believe that his seed would become as numerous as the stars, especially given that his wife had been barren in her youth and was now as feeble as he was.

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Romans 4:19

Faith takes no aspect of nature into account, because it knows that the one who spoke is almighty.

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Romans 4:20

Abraham doubted neither the impossibility of old age nor the greatness of the promise.

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Romans 4:21

Abraham thanked God as if he had already received the gift.

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Romans 4:22

This was because Abraham believed so completely and so steadfastly.

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Romans 4:24

We are meant to imitate Abraham’s example as if he were our father, just as we imitate the examples of the saints, by which they pleased the Lord. They were tempted so that they might know themselves and so that we might follow them. We shall benefit if we believe as completely that God has raised Christ from the dead as Abraham believed that his body, which was as good as dead, could be made alive in order to produce children.

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Romans 4:25

Christ wiped away our sins by his death, and, rising again in the same state as the one in which he died, he appeared to believers in order to confirm their righteousness.

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Romans 5:1

Paul has discussed the point that nobody is justified by works, but all are justified by faith, and he has proved this by the example of Abraham, of whom the Jews claim to be the only children. He has also explained why neither race nor circumcision makes people children of Abraham but only faith, because Abraham was initially justified by faith alone. Now, having concluded this argument, Paul urges both Jews and Gentiles to live at peace, because no one is saved by his own merit, but everyone is saved in the same way, by God’s grace. “Peace with God” means either that both sides should submit to God or that we should have the peace of God and not just the peace of the world.

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Romans 5:2

We have drawn near to God, because previously we were far away from him, and we stand, because previously we were flat on our faces. We rejoice in the hope that we shall possess the glory of God’s children. What we hope for is so great that no one would try it on his own, in case it should be regarded as blasphemy, not as hope, and as something which many people think is unbelievable because of its greatness.

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Romans 5:3

We glory not only in the hope of glory but also in sufferings which are most salutary, being mindful of the greatness of the reward. We should desire to suffer something for the Lord’s name so that when sufferings come to an end we may obtain an eternal reward for them. For when we consider the reward, we cannot possibly begrudge the effort needed to be worthy of the reward.

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Romans 5:5

The hope of things to come casts out all confusion. This is why the man who is dismayed by Christ’s injunctions lacks hope. The greatness of God’s benefits arouses in us greatness of love, which does not know fear or dismay because it is complete. We also learn how God loves us, because he has not only forgiven us our sins through the death of his Son but also given us the Holy Spirit, who already shows us the glory of things to come.

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Romans 5:6

Why did Christ die for us when he had no obligation to do so, if it was not to manifest his love at a time when we were still weighed down with the burden of sin and vice? It was the right time, either because righteousness had virtually disappeared and we were weak, or because it was the end of time, or because Christ was dead for the prophesied three-day period. Paul wants to point out that Christ died for the ungodly in order to commend the grace of Christ by considering his benefits and to show how much we, who have been undeservedly loved, ought to love him, and so that we might see whether anything should be valued more highly than one who is so generous and holy. He neither valued his life above us ungodly people nor withheld the death that was indispensable for us.

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Romans 5:7

It is hard to die for a righteous person, because a righteous person is not destined to die.… But perhaps one would die for a good person, so that no harm might come to him.

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Romans 5:8

God becomes the object of love when he conveys how much he loves us. For when someone does something without obligation, one demonstrates love in a special way. And what would be less of an obligation than that a master who is without sin should die for his faithless servants, and that the Creator of the universe should be hanged for the sake of his own creatures? Note that when the apostle says that believers in Christ were once sinners he means that now they are no longer sinners, so that they may recall how they ought to behave.

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Romans 5:9

If Christ loved sinners so much, how much more will he now preserve the righteous! We must be careful not to make him unclean by our sinning, as the apostle himself tells the Hebrews.

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Romans 5:10

Sinners are enemies because they show contempt. We were enemies in our deeds but not by nature; we have been reconciled in peace, because by nature we have been united in peace. If we have been saved by Christ’s death, how much more shall we glory in his life if we imitate it!

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Romans 5:11

Not only shall we have eternal life, but through Christ we are promised a certain likeness to divine glory as well. Paul wants to show that Christ suffered so that we who had forsaken God by following Adam might be reconciled to God through Christ.

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Romans 5:12

Just as through Adam sin came at a time when it did not yet exist, so through Christ righteousness was recovered at a time when it survived in almost nobody. And just as through Adam’s sin death came in, so through Christ’s righteousness life was regained. As long as people sin as Adam sinned they die. Death did not pass on to Abraham and Isaac, of whom the Lord says: “They all live to him.” But here Paul says that all are dead because in a multitude of sinners no exception is made for a few righteous.… Or perhaps we should understand that death passed on to all who lived in a human and not in a heavenly manner.

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