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A Treatise on the Soul and Its Origin, by Aurelius Augustin, Bishop of Hippo; in Four Books, Written Towards the End of 419 · Chapter 22

Why the Passage Referred to Must Be Understood of a Man Established Under Grace

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And it had once appeared to me also that the apostle was in this argument of his describing a man under the law.2582 But afterwards I was constrained to give up the idea by those words where he says, "Now, then, it is no more I that do it." For to this belongs what he says subsequently also: "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." And because I do not see how a man under the law should say, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man;" since this very delight in good, by which, moreover, he does not consent to evil, not from fear of penalty, but from love of righteousness (for this is meant by "delighting"), can only be attributed to grace.

Notes

  1. 2582

    See Augustin's Exposition of Certain Propositions in the Epistle to the Romans, 44, 45; also his Commentary on ; also his letter to Simplicianus, book i. 7, 9.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Volume 5, ed. Philip Schaff (1886–89). Public domain. Text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.