Chapter 21.--No Condemnation in Christ Jesus.
Then he adds the reason why he said all these things: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" And thence he concludes: "Therefore I myself with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." [2580] To wit, with the flesh, the law of sin, by lusting; but with the mind, the law of God, by not consenting to that lust. "For there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." [2581] For he is not condemned who does not consent to the evil of the lust of the flesh. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made thee free from the law of sin and death," so that, to wit, the lust of the flesh may not appropriate to itself thy consent. And what follows more and more demonstrates the same meaning. But moderation must be used.
[2580] Rom. vii. 24, 25.
[2581] Rom. viii. 1.
Chapter 22.--Why the Passage Referred to Must Be Understood of a Man Established Under Grace.
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.
[2582] See Augustin's Exposition of Certain Propositions in the Epistle to the Romans, 44, 45; also his Commentary on Galatians, v. 17; also his letter to Simplicianus, book i. 7, 9.
Chapter 23 [XI.]--What It is to Be Delivered from the Body of This Death.
For when he says also, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" [2583] who can deny that when the apostle said this he was still in the body of this death? And certainly the wicked are not delivered from this, to whom the same bodies are returned for eternal torment. Therefore, to be delivered from the body of this death is to be healed of all the weakness of fleshly lust, and to receive the body, not for penalty, but for glory. With this passage also those words are sufficiently in harmony: "Ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption, of our body." For surely we groan with that groaning wherein we say, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" That also where he says, "For what I do, I know not;" what else is it than: "I will not, I do not approve, I do not consent, I do not do"? Otherwise it is contrary to what he said above, "By the law is the knowledge of sin," and, "I had not known sin but by the law," and, "Sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good." For how did he know sin, of which he was ignorant, by the law? How does sin which is not known appear? Therefore it is said, "I know not," for "I do not," because I myself commit it with no consent of mine; in the same way in which the Lord will say to the wicked, "I know you not," [2584] although, beyond a doubt, nothing can be hid from Him; and as it is said, "Him who had not known sin," [2585] which means who had not done sin, for He had not known what He condemned.
[2583] Rom. vii. 24.
[2584] Matt. vii. 23.
[2585] 2 Cor. v. 21.