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66. On the Text: "Or do you not know, brothers (for I speak to those who know the Law), that the Law is the master of a man as long as he lives?" to the Text: "He will bring even your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit living in you"
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138 ST. AUGUSTINE However, the linen sheets and handkerchief of Jesus, who did not sin and was not in ignorance, were found in the tomb, 15 for he alone of all flesh was not only not overcome by the tomb so that some sin should be found in him,16 but neither was he enveloped by the winding linen sheets so that something should hide him or hinder him from going. 66. ON THE TEXT: "OR DO YOU KNOW, BROTHERS (FOR I SPEAK TO THOSE WHO KNOW THE LA W), THA T THE LA W IS THE MASTER OF A MAN AS LONG AS HE LIVES?" TO THE TEXT: "HE WILL BRING EVEN YOUR MORTAL BODIES TO LIFE THROUGH HIS SPIRIT LIVING IN YOU"1 (1) The Apostle in this analogy, in which he says of a husband and a wife that the wife is bound by law to the husband , commends three things for consideration: the wife, the husband, and the law, i.e., the wife subject to the husband through the bond of law, from which bond she is freed by the death of the husband to marry whom she wants. For he says the following: "For the woman subject to a husband is joined by law to the husband while he is alive; but if her husband should die, then she is released from the law of the husband. Therefore, while the husband is alive, she is called an adulteress if she is with another man; but if her husband has died, then she is freed from the law so that she is not an adulteress if she is with another man."2 The analogy ends here. Then the Apostle begins to speak of the substantive issue for whose explanation and proof he brought forward the analogy. In this issue too three things are likewise to be considered: man, sin, and the Law, for the Apostle says that as long as man lives in sin he lives under the Law, just as the woman, 15 In :.10.7. 16 Is 53.9. 1 Rom 7.1-8.11. 2 Rom 7.2-3. QUESTION 66 139 as long as the husband lives, lives under the law of the husband . Now the sin in question must here be understood as that sin which has come about through the Law; and this sin, the Apostle says, is beyond measure because, although it already appears as sin, it nonetheless is augmented in its commission by the addition of transgression. "For where there is no law, there is no transgression."3 What he means is this: "in order that, owing to the commandment, sinner or sin be beyond measure."4 Wherefore, he says, although the Law forbids sin, nonetheless, it has not been so given that it frees from sin. Rather, the Law points out the sin from which the soul in its subservience must turn itself to the grace of the Deliverer so that it might be set free from sin. "For through the Law is the knowledge of sin."5 Again, the Apostle says in another place: "But sin, that it might be seen as sin, has effected my death through that which is good."6 Therefore, where the grace of the Deliverer is not present, the forbidding of sins increases the desire for sinning. However, this serves the purpose of making the soul aware that it is not sufficient in itself to extricate itself from enslavement to sin, so that in this way, with the subsiding and extinction of all pride, it might become subject to its Deliverer, and so that a man might say with sincerity: "My soul has clung to yoU."7 In this state one is no longer under the law of sin, but in the law of righteousness. The Apostle speaks of "the law of sin," not because the Law itself is sin, but because it is imposed on sinners. Likewise also [he speaks] of the "law of death," because "sin's wage is death,"8 [and] "the sting of death is sin, but 3 Rom 4.15. 4 Rom 7.13. Augustine's Latin translation of the Greek text is faulty here, for the Greek should be translated: "in order that, owing to the commandment, sin become sinful beyond measure." In reading the Greek text, somebody (Augustine himself?) had read he ("the") as e ("or") and translated into Latin accordingly. Once this happened, the Greek word hamartolos was then understood as a noun...