Fathers

Loading…

What the Fathers say

Romans 7:25

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

Observe how he shows the necessity of having grace present with us, and that the well-doings herein belong alike to the Father and the Son. For if it is the Father Whom he thanketh, still the Son is the cause of this thanksgiving. But when you hear him say, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" do not suppose him to be accusing the flesh. For he does not say "body of sin," but "body of death:" that is, the mortal body-that which hath been overcome by death, not that which gendered death. …

Homily on Romans 13 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Having been placed in a hopeless situation and having found no other savior, he of necessity found Christ as Savior. Therefore he also thanks "God" the Father "through Jesus Christ our Lord," that is, the cause of thanksgiving is Christ. He, he says, accomplished what the law could not do: He delivered me from the weakness of the flesh, having strengthened it, so that it no longer stands under the tyranny of sin; but just as through the transgression of Adam, having become mortal, it became easily overcome by sin, so through the …

Commentary on Romans ↗

Methodius of Olympus

And the same is denoted by the words, "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" By which he does not mean that the body is death, but the law of sin which is in his members, lying hidden in us through the transgression, and ever deluding the soul to the death of unrighteousness. …

Methodius From the Discourse on the Resurrection ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

Then he responds to the question, at the grace of God. For man by his own power cannot be freed from the corruption of the body, nor even of the soul, although he agrees with reason against sin, but only by the grace of Christ, as it says in John: so if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed (John 8:36). Therefore, he says, the grace of God will free me and it is given by Jesus Christ: grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). …

Commentary on Romans ↗