The assumed words fit neither Paul nor the baptized; 'sin' names the devil
Eusebius has just shown that the words of Romans 7 cannot be Paul's own; he now explains why they fit neither Paul nor any baptized person, and begins to argue that 'sin' in the passage means the devil.
The words spoken in an assumed voice fit neither the inspired Paul nor anyone buried with Christ through baptism. For such people have been freed from what is called the flesh. They will no longer be condemned because of Adam's disobedience. Sin no longer reigns over them, nor does the death that came through sin. For they were buried with the life of Christ, who wiped out disobedience by his obedience and drove out the death that came upon us from it by his voluntary death. He willingly placed himself under the law of disobedience so that he might redeem us who were under the law of condemnation. This is why every redeemed person says, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:25). For what the law could not do, weakened as it was through the flesh, God did: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, he condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3).
That these things have been rightly observed, the divine apostle shows by adding: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:1-2), and what follows.
Let me now attempt to speak briefly, in passing, about the very words spoken in an assumed voice, beginning from: "But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me" (Romans 7:11). The name "sin" does not indicate an existing substance, but rather a manner and way of life in which someone has missed the mark of what is reasonable and correct. For "sin" is a most general name, predicated of many different things. Every sin comes about neither by reason nor by a commanding law. For if it came about according to law and right reason, it would no longer be a sin, since it would have a defined and ordered principle of origin. But since the divine apostle does not mention mere sins, but a most general sin that has a mind, that has a law, that is able to deceive and to procure opportunities for the preparation of evil, he is not naming anyone else as sin in the most general sense except the originator and father of sins himself, the devil. For this reason the apostle also declared that he reigns over sins: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body" (Romans 6:12). For just as we call people by the craft they practice, so also he calls the devil himself "sin," since he was the first inventor of sin.
So then, through the commandment given to Adam he deceived the man, and through it he deceived Adam, procuring opportunities through the commandment. This is what he said: "Why did God say, 'You shall not eat from every tree in the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1). "And on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). He deceives them by hiding the deception under a greater promise. He promises more, so that he might cast down the keepers of the commandment from the foundations of virtue by a fall like his own. For having goaded the man to want to become equal to God, he procured the opportunity for his deceitful conversation from the commandment that had been given. This is why Paul said, "But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me" (Romans 7:11).
Greek
ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ προσωποποιηθέντα ῥήματα οὔτε τῷ θεσπεσίῳ Παύλῳ ἁρμόζει, οὔτε μὴν παντὶ τῷ συνταφέντι Χριστῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος, διότι τῆς ὀνομαζομένης σαρκὸς ἠλευθερώθησαν· οὐ γὰρ ἔτι κατακριθήσονται οἱ τοιοῦτοι διὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ παρακοήν, οὐκέτι βασιλεύει αὐτῶν ἡ ἁμαρτία, οὐχ ὁ θάνατος ὁ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας· συνετάφησαν γὰρ τῇ ζωῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ διὰ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τὴν παρακοὴν
ἐξαφανίσαντος, καὶ τῷ ἑκουσίῳ ἑαυτοῦ θανάτῳ τὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐπισυμβάντα ἡμῖν θάνατον ἐκκρουσαμένῳ· γέγονε γὰρ ἑκὼν ὑπὸ νόμον τὸν τῆς παρακοῆς, ἵνα ἡμᾶς 1 τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον τὸν τῆς κατακρίσεως ἐξαγοράσῃ. διὰ τοῦτο ἔφη πᾶς λελυτρωμένος· χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν· τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου, ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει διὰ τῆς σαρκός, ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ υἱὸν πέμψας ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας, κατέκρινε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ σαρκί. ὅτι δὲ ταῦθ' οὕτω καλῶς τεθεώρηται, ἐπιφέρει λέγων ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος· οὐδὲν ἄρα κατάκριμα τοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ· ὁ γὰρ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἠλευθέρωσέν με ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ τὰ τούτων ἑξῆς. 3 Πειράσω δὴ διὰ βραχέων καὶ εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ ῥήματα τὰ κατὰ προσωποποιΐαν εἰρημένα παρατρεχόντως εἰπεῖν, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀφορμὴν δὲ λαβοῦσα ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐξηπάτησεν με καὶ δι' αὐτῆς ἀπέκτεινεν. Τὸ ἁμαρτίας ὄνομα οὐκ οὐσίαν ὑφεστῶσαν δηλοῖ, ἀλλὰ τρόπον καὶ βίον τοῦ διημαρτηκέναι τινὰ τοῦ κατὰ λόγον καὶ ὀρθῶς ἔχοντος πράγματος· ὥσπερ γὰρ γενικώτατόν ἐστιν ὄνομα ἡ ἁμαρτία, κατὰ πολλῶν καὶ διαφόρων πραγμάτων κατηγορουμένη. πᾶν δὲ ἁμάρτημα οὔτε λόγῳ οὔτε νόμῳ προστακτικῷ γίνεται· εἰ γὰρ κατὰ νόμον καὶ λόγον ἐγίνετο ὀρθόν, οὐκέτι ἂν ἦν ἁμάρτημα ὡρισμένον καὶ τεταγμένον ἔχον τὸν τῆς γενέσεως λόγον. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἁμαρτημάτων, ἀλλ' ἁμαρτίας γενικωτάτης ἐχούσης φρόνημα, ἐχούσης νόμον, δυναμένης σοφίσασθαι, ἀφορμὰς πορίσασθαι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ κατασκευὴν μνημονεύει, οὐκ ἄλλον τινὰ γενικωτάτως ἁμαρτίαν ὀνομάζει, ἀλλ' ἢ αὐτὸν τὸν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀρχηγέτην καὶ πατέρα διάβολον. ὅτου χάριν καὶ βασιλεύειν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων αὐτὸν ὁ ἀπόστολος ἀπεφήνατο· μὴ οὖν βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ ὑμῶν σώματι. ὡς γὰρ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀφ' ἧς ἐπιτηδεύουσι τέχνης καλοῦμεν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν διάβολον ὡς πρώτως ἐφευρετὴν γενόμενον τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἁμαρτίαν καλεῖ. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν διὰ τῆς δοθείσης τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἐντολῆς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἠπάτησεν, καὶ δι' αὐτῆς τὸν Ἀδάμ, ἀφορμὰς πορισάμενος διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη· τί ὅτι, φησίν, εἶπεν ὁ θεός· ἀπὸ παντὸς ξύλου τοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ οὐ φάγεσθε βρώσει; καὶ ᾗ δ' ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγησθε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, διανοιχθήσονται ὑμῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί, καὶ ἔσεσθε ὡς θεοί, γινώσκοντες καλὸν καὶ πονηρόν. σοφίζεται δὲ αὐτοὺς μείζονι ἐπαγγελίᾳ κατακρύψαι τὴν ἀπάτην, ὑπισχνεῖται τὸ πλέον, ἵνα τοὺς τῆς ἐντολῆς φύλακας τῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς βάθρων τῷ ὁμοίῳ αὐτοὺς πτώματι καταστρέψῃ· τὸν γὰρ ἄνθρωπον ἐξοιστρήσας ἴσα θεῷ ἐθέλειν γενέσθαι, τῆς κατ' ἀπάτην ὁμιλίας τὴν ἀφορμὴν ἐπορίζετο ἐκ τῆς παρασχεθείσης ἐντολῆς. ὅτου χάριν ὁ Παῦλος ἔφη· ἀφορμὴν δὲ λαβοῦσα ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐξηπάτησέν με.