Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Romans 7:18

Eastern Fathers

Theophylact of Ohrid

What then do those babble who arm themselves against the flesh and exclude it from the number of God's creations? They object: the apostle says, "there dwells not in me, that is, in my flesh, anything good." Listen in what sense he said this. Man consists of two parts: the soul and the flesh; of these, the first, that is, the soul, rules over everything, while the flesh is a servant. …

Commentary on Romans ↗

Irenaeus

On this account, therefore, the Lord Himself, who is Emmanuel from the Virgin, is the sign of our salvation, since it was the Lord Himself who saved them, because they could not be saved by their own instrumentality; and, therefore, when Paul sets forth human infirmity, he says: "For I know that there dwelleth in my flesh no good thing," showing that the "good thing" of our salvation is not from us, but from God. …

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 3 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

Paul says that the evil of the flesh is not good but that when this evil has ceased to exist the flesh will still be there, but … then it will not be defective or corrupt.

On Continence 8.19 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Then he proves that sin dwelling in man does the evil which man commits, when he says, for I know: first, he presents the middle term proving the proposition; second, he explains the middle term, at for to will. First, therefore, he proves that sin dwelling in man does the evil which man commits. This proof is clear when the words are referred to a man in the state of grace, who has been freed from sin by the grace of Christ (Rom 6:22). …

Commentary on Romans ↗