Pelagius — Commentary on Scripture

Romans 5:13

The law came to punish sin. Before it came, sinners enjoyed at least the length of this present life with less restraint. Sin indeed existed before the law, but it was not counted as sin because natural knowledge had been almost wiped out. How did death reign, if sin was not counted? You have to understand here that it was not counted “for the time being.”

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 5:14

This may mean that as long as there was no one who distinguished between the righteous and the unrighteous, death imagined that it was Lord over all. Or else it may mean that death reigned not only over those who, like Adam, broke a commandment—like the sons of Noah who were ordered not to eat the life in the blood or the sons of Abraham, on whom circumcision was imposed—but over those who, lacking the commandment, showed contempt for the law of nature. Adam was a type of Christ either because he was made by God without sexual intercourse, just as Christ was born of a virgin by the aid of the Holy Spirit, or he was an antithetical type, that is, as Adam was the source of sin so Christ is the source of righteousness.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 5:15

The gift is not like the trespass, because one must not give equal value to the type as to the original. Righteousness had more power to bring to life than sin had to put to death. Adam killed only himself and his descendants, whereas Christ freed both those who were then in the body and also succeeding generations. Those who oppose the idea of the transmission of sin try to attack it as follows: “If Adam’s sin harmed even those who were not sinners, then Christ’s righteousness must help even those who are not believers. For Paul says that people are saved through Christ in the same way or to an even greater degree than they had previously perished through Adam.” Secondly, they say: “If baptism washes away that ancient sin, those who are born of two baptized parents should not have that sin, for they could not have passed on to their children what they did not possess themselves. Besides, if the soul does not exist by transmission, but only the flesh, then only the flesh carries the transmission of sin and it alone deserves punishment.” Declaring it to be unjust that a soul which is…

The gift is not like the trespass, because one must not give equal value to the type as to the original. Righteousness had more power to bring to life than sin had to put to death. Adam killed only himself and his descendants, whereas Christ freed both those who were then in the body and also succeeding generations. Those who oppose the idea of the transmission of sin try to attack it as follows: “If Adam’s sin harmed even those who were not sinners, then Christ’s righteousness must help even those who are not believers. For Paul says that people are saved through Christ in the same way or to an even greater degree than they had previously perished through Adam.” Secondly, they say: “If baptism washes away that ancient sin, those who are born of two baptized parents should not have that sin, for they could not have passed on to their children what they did not possess themselves. Besides, if the soul does not exist by transmission, but only the flesh, then only the flesh carries the transmission of sin and it alone deserves punishment.” Declaring it to be unjust that a soul which is born today, not from the lump of Adam, bears so ancient a sin belonging to another, these people say that on no account should it be accepted that God, who forgives a man his own sins, imputes to him the sins of someone else.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 5:16

The effect of the gift is greater than that of the sin. From the sin of one righteous man came the judgment of death. Adam never came across all the righteousness which he destroyed, but Christ discharged the sins of many by his grace. Adam was only the model for sin, but Christ both forgave sins freely and gave an example of righteousness.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 5:17

Righteousness is given through baptism and is not gained by merit.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 5:18

Death reigned, but so also grace reigned through justification.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 5:19

Just as by the example of Adam’s disobedience many sinned, so many are also justified by Christ’s obedience. Great therefore is the crime of disobedience, which kills so many.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 5:20

The amount of sin has been revealed so that the greatness of grace might be known and so that we might pay back a corresponding debt of love.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 5:21

Just as the reign of sin was established through contempt for the law, so also the reign of grace is established through the forgiveness of many sinners and thereafter through the doing of righteousness without ceasing.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:1

Paul is speaking here of those whom faith found in sin, not of us believers, who have died to sin in order to live for grace.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:2

Paul wants the baptized person to be steadfast and virtually perfect.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:3

Do you not know about this sacrament of baptism? In the Scriptures baptism is received in three ways: with water, with the Holy Spirit (who is also called “fire”) and with blood in martyrdom. We who are believers have died with Christ in our baptism.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:4

Paul shows that we were baptized so that through the sacrament we are buried with Christ, dying to our sins and renouncing our former life. So just as the Father is glorified in the resurrection of the Son, so too on account of the newness of our lifestyle he is glorified by us all, as long as none of the signs of the old self is recognizable in us. For now we should no longer want or desire anything that those who are not yet baptized and are still trapped in the errors of their old life want or desire.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:5

If we are buried with Christ now, we shall be united with him in his resurrection then, and if we have already become new and been changed in our way of life now, we shall likewise be new and changed in glory then.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:6

Through baptism you who have been made a member of Christ’s body were crucified with Christ. He hangs his innocent body so that you may have the power to restrain your guilty body from sin. Similarly, Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness so that every form of wickedness might be torn down, because each vice is a member of the body of sin. Christ was not crucified in part but in whole. Or perhaps we should read this as meaning that our body should be torn away from slavery to sin and that what used to be the property of transgression should now become the property of righteousness, for “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.”

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:7

Freed means “alienated” from sin, for the dead do not sin in any way. “No one born of God commits sin,” for since he has been crucified and all his members are filled with regret, he will hardly be able to sin.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:8

If we have not died with him we shall not live with him, because then we are not his members.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:9

We shall not fear the second death if we have died willingly. Or it may mean: “You cannot be baptized a second time because Christ cannot be crucified for you a second time,” as Paul writes to the Hebrews. He does not say that these people cannot repent, but he does not allow them to repeat their baptism.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:10

Christ carried our sins and suffered for us so that in the future we might not sin. Christ now lives in the glory of his divinity.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 6:11

As members of Christ you should understand that having died with him once for all you ought now always to live for God in Christ. In him our life is hidden with God, and since we have been clothed with him we should follow his example.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS