Fragments on Romans · §4 · Eusebius of Emesa

The devil, not the flesh, is the indwelling sin that works evil

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Eusebius is closing his argument that the 'I' of Romans 7 is an assumed voice, and now answers the objection that if no one can do the good, virtue would be impossible.

But if this is true, I will speak as the impious do: then the good never was and never will be in human life, and no one ever enacted it—if they take the words “the good I want, this I do not do, but what I hate, this I practice” (Romans 7:19) as the abolition of the good and beautiful for every human being. And from where did the names of virtues ever appear in human life? But if there are people who enact the good—even if those who do it are few—will not all of them say, “We know that good does not dwell in us; for the good they wanted, this they practice”? If those who enact the good do so while they are in the flesh, and those who do not do this but do evil are also in the flesh, then the cause of the good not coming to be should not be attached to the flesh, but to their softness of soul. For if evil lies beside those who want to do the good, and likewise the good does not lie beside those who want to do evil, but they deliberate and choose beforehand and only then come to action—are our bodies then evil by nature and substance? For deliberation and willing lead the way before our actions, and these belong to a soul that has a self-determining mind, able to incline toward whatever actions it wishes.

“But now it is no longer I who work it out, but the sin dwelling in me” (Romans 7:17). Through this saying he made his defense: the flesh is not evil by nature. For it is not the flesh we are clothed in that dwells in us, but the devil who dwells in the lawless. For in the same way that I say Christ dwells in every righteous person who works the good, I think the devil dwells in every evildoer. Therefore we are not wicked insofar as we have flesh, but the sin dwelling in us is—and it is something other than the flesh and the soul of the human being. For the devil is said to make his home especially in the soul, according to “Satan entered into the heart of Judas” (John 13:27), and according to “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart?” (Acts 5:3). And it was well said: “no longer I work it out, but the sin dwelling in me.” For there is a great distance between a work and a working-out, because the working-out precedes the work—as, for example, with a house or a ship: the working-out is the advance preparation of the material. So the sin dwelling in sinners—that is, Satan—admittedly works out beforehand in our thoughts the form of the evil to come, its construction, while the soul that has received him cooperates with him in the wickedness, just as the womb of a woman cooperates with those who sow, so that what is sown may be brought to maturity. And since evil thoughts come out of the heart (Matthew 15:19), from the conception of the devil that has taken place, the divine oracle cries out: “destroying thoughts and every high thing lifted up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Just as the Holy Spirit is said to labor together with virtue-loving souls, according to “I labored more abundantly than all of them—not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10), so when a careless soul is persuaded by the devil's promptings, it has the devil himself as its coworker for evil. For he himself worked out beforehand in the soul the pattern of the sin to come. This is why it is said: “no longer I work it out, but the sin dwelling in me” (Romans 7:17).

Greek

εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἀληθές ἐστιν, κατὰ τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς ἐρῶ· ἄρα οὐκ ἦν οὐδ' ἔσται ἐν βίῳ τὸ καλόν, οὔτε τίς ποτ' αὐτὸ ἐνήργησεν, εἴγε κατ' ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ ἐπὶ παντὸς ἀνθρώπου ἐκλαμβάνωσιν, ὅτι ὃ θέλω ἀγαθόν, τοῦτο οὐ ποιῶ, ἀλλ' ὃ μισῶ τοῦτο

πράσσω. πόθεν δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίῳ 5 ἀρετῶν ὀνόματα εὑρέθη; εἰ δέ εἰσιν ἐνεργοῦντες τὸ καλόν, κἂν ὀλίγοι εἶεν οἱ τοῦτο δρῶντες, ἄρ' οὐχ οἱ πάντες φήσουσιν· οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι οὐκ οἰκεῖ ἐν ἡμῖν ἀγαθόν· ὃ γὰρ ἠθέλησαν ἀγαθόν, τοῦτο πράττουσιν. εἰ δὲ οἱ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐνεργοῦντες ἐν σαρκὶ ὑπάρχοντες τοῦτο ἐνεργοῦσιν, καὶ οἱ τοῦτο μὴ ποιοῦντες ἀλλὰ τὸ κακὸν ἐν σαρκί εἰσίν, ἄρ' οὐ τῇ σαρκὶ τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ μὴ γίνεσθαι τὸ ἀγαθὸν περιαπτέον, ἀλλὰ τῇ τούτων μαλακοψυχίᾳ. εἰ γὰρ τοῖς ἐθέλουσι τὸ καλὸν ποιῆσαι παροικεῖται τὸ κακόν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐθέλουσι κακοεργεῖν οὐ καλὸν παράκειται, προνοήσαντες δὲ καὶ προθελήσαντες ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐνεργείας ἔρχονται, ἄρ' οὐ φύσει καὶ οὐσίᾳ τὰ σώματα ἡμῶν ἐστι φαῦλα· τῶν γὰρ πρακτέων ἡμῶν προηγεῖται βουλὴ καὶ θέλησις, ψυχῆς δὲ ταῦτα φρόνημα ἐχούσης αὐτεξούσιον, ῥέψαι δυναμένης πρὸς ἃς βούλεται πράξεις. Νυνὶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτό, ἀλλ' ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία. ἀπελογήσατο διὰ τούτου τοῦ λογίου, ὅτι περ οὐ φαύλη κατὰ φύσιν ἡ σάρξ· οὐ γὰρ ἡ σὰρξ ἣν περικείμεθα οἰκεῖ ἐν ἡμῖν, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐν τοῖς παρανόμοις οἰκῶν διάβολος. ᾧ γὰρ λέγω· Χριστὸς οἰκεῖ ἐν παντὶ δικαίῳ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐργαζομένῳ, τὸν αὐτὸν οἶμαι τρόπον οἰκεῖν τὸν διάβολον ἐν παντὶ κακοποιῷ. οὐκοῦν οὐχ ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν καθὸ σάρκα ἔχομεν πονηροί, ἀλλ' ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἡμῖν ἁμαρτία, ἄλλη τις οὖσα παρὰ τὴν σάρκα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου· καὶ γὰρ ἐν ψυχῇ μάλιστα λέγεται ἐπιχωριάζειν ὁ διάβολος κατὰ τὸ εἰσῆλθεν ὁ σατανᾶς εἰς τὴν καρδίαν Ἰούδα, καὶ κατὰ τὸ Ἀνανία, ἵνα τί ἐπλήρωσεν ὁ σατανᾶς τὴν καρδίαν σου; εὖ δὲ καὶ τὸ εἰπεῖν οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ ἀλλ' ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία· ἔργου γὰρ καὶ κατέργου πολὺ τὸ μέσον, διότι τοῦ ἔργου προηγεῖται τὸ κάτεργον ὡς φέρε εἰπεῖν οἰκίας ἢ νηός· τὸ δὲ κάτεργον, τοῦτ' ἔστι τῆς ὕλης ἡ προπαρασκευή. ἡ τοίνυν οἰκοῦσα ἐν τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἁμαρτία, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὁ σατανᾶς, ὁμολογουμένως ἐν τοῖς λογισμοῖς ἡμῶν προκατεργάζεται τοῦ ἐσομένου κακοῦ τῆς ἰδέας, τὴν κατασκευήν, τῆς ὑποδεξαμένης αὐτὸν ψυχῆς συμπραττούσης αὐτῷ τῆς κακίας καθάπερ τοῖς σπείρουσιν ἡ τῆς θήλεος μήτρα πρὸς τὸ 3 τελεσφορηθῆναι τὸ σπαρέν. καὶ ἐπειδήπερ ἐκ τῆς καρδίας ἐκπορεύονται λογισμοὶ πονηροί, ἐκ τῆς γενομένης τοῦ διαβόλου συλλήψεως, κέκραγε τὸ θεῖον λόγιον· λογισμοὺς καθαιροῦντες καὶ πᾶν ὕψωμα ἐπαιρόμενον κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ. ὥσπερ τοίνυν ταῖς φιλαρέτοις ψυχαῖς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα συγκοπιᾶν λέγεται κατὰ τὸ περισσότερον πάντων ἐκοπίασα, οὐκ ἐγὼ δὲ ἀλλ' ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ σὺν ἐμοί, οὕτω δὴ ἐπὰν ῥᾴθυμος ψυχὴ ταῖς 6 τοῦ διαβόλου προτροπαῖς πεισθῇ, συνεργὸν ἔχει πρὸς τὸ κακὸν αὐτὸν τὸν διάβολον· αὐτὸς γὰρ καὶ τὸν τύπον τῆς ἐσομένης ἁμαρτίας προκατειργάσατο ἐν αὐτῇ. ὅτου χάριν εἴρηται οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτό, ἀλλ' ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία. 4

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About this text

Notes on Romans 7, arguing that "wretched man that I am" is Paul speaking in an assumed voice, and that the sin living in us is the devil.

Eusebius of Emesa (c. 300–c. 359) was a Christian bishop in Syria, educated in Edessa, Antioch, and Alexandria, and a student of Eusebius of Caesarea. He wrote this commentary to explain difficult passages in Paul's Letter to the Romans, especially Romans 7, for readers who found Paul's confessions there puzzling. His approach follows the Antiochene tradition of literal and historical interpretation.

The work addresses a problem in Romans 7, where Paul seems to say that he does the evil he does not want to do. Eusebius argues that Paul speaks there in an assumed voice, not in his own person, to refute people who love sin and blame the flesh for evil. A reader will meet Paul, Adam, the devil, and Christ, and will hear the words of Paul and Adam quoted and argued against.

To follow the argument, a reader should know that 'sin' in this passage means the devil, not a substance or the human flesh, and that the law and commandment remain holy, just, and good. The flesh itself is not evil by nature; rather, the devil dwelling in sinners is the agent of evil. Christians buried with Christ in baptism have been freed from this 'sin' and from condemnation. The term 'Beliar' is another name for the devil, also called Satan, the serpent, and the lion.

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