Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Romans 7:17

There are 16 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 395, footnote 5 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2566 (In-Text, Margin)

... cognovi, nisi per legem. Concupiscentiam enim non cognovissem, nisi lex diceret: Non concupisces.” Quod si ii, qui sunt diversæ sententiæ, repugnantes, existiment Paulum verba sua dirigentem adversus Creatorem, dixisse ea, quæ deinceps sequuntur: “Novi enim, quod non habitat in me, hoc est, in came mea, bonum;” legant æ, quæ prius dicta sunt; et ea, quæ consequuntur. Prius enim dixit: “Sed inhabitarts in me peccatum;” propter quod consentaneum erat dicere illud: “Non habitat in came mea bonum.”[Romans 7:17] Consequenter subjunxit: “Si autem quod nolo, hoc ego facio, non utique ego id operor, sed quod inhabitat in me peccatum:” quod “repugnans,” inquit, “legi” Dei et “mentis meæ, captivat me in lege peccati, quæ est in membris meis. Miser ego homo, quis ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 579, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (HTML)

It is the Works of the Flesh, Not the Substance of the Flesh, Which St. Paul Always Condemns. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7595 (In-Text, Margin)

... are living in the flesh, but walking after the Spirit, it is no longer the flesh which is an adversary to salvation, but the working of the flesh. When, however, this operativeness of the flesh is done away with, which is the cause of death, the flesh is shown to be safe, since it is freed from the cause of death. “For the law,” says he, “of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death,” —that, surely, which he previously mentioned as dwelling in our members.[Romans 7:17] Our members, therefore, will no longer be subject to the law of death, because they cease to serve that of sin, from both which they have been set free. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 372, footnote 6 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Methodius. (HTML)

From the Discourse on the Resurrection. (HTML)

Part III. (HTML)
A Synopsis of Some Apostolic Words from the Same Discourse. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2923 (In-Text, Margin)

... able to stand against the wiles of the devil; “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of Christ,” “for we wrestle not against flesh and blood;” “for that which I do, I allow not; for what I would, that do I not: but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me—that is, in my flesh—dwelleth no good thing.”[Romans 7:15-18] And this is rightly said. For remember how it has been already shown that, from the time when man went astray and disobeyed the law, thence sin, receiving its birth from his disobedience, dwelt in him. For thus a commotion was stirred up, and we ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 125, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

He finally describes the thirty-second year of his age, the most memorable of his whole life, in which, being instructed by Simplicianus concerning the conversion of others, and the manner of acting, he is, after a severe struggle, renewed in his whole mind, and is converted unto God. (HTML)

He Refutes the Opinion of the Manichæans as to Two Kinds of Minds,—One Good and the Other Evil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 672 (In-Text, Margin)

... your faces shall not be “ashamed.” I, when I was deliberating upon serving the Lord my God now, as I had long purposed,—I it was who willed, I who was unwilling. It was I, even I myself. I neither willed entirely, nor was entirely unwilling. Therefore was I at war with myself, and destroyed by myself. And this destruction overtook me against my will, and yet showed not the presence of another mind, but the punishment of mine own. “Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me,”[Romans 7:17] —the punishment of a more unconfined sin, in that I was a son of Adam.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 289, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

The progress of the earthly and heavenly cities traced by the sacred history. (HTML)

Of the Cause of Cain’s Crime and His Obstinacy, Which Not Even the Word of God Could Subdue. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 790 (In-Text, Margin)

... But if we understand this sin to be that carnal concupiscence of which the apostle says, “The flesh lusteth against the spirit,” among the fruits of which lust he names envy, by which assuredly Cain was stung and excited to destroy his brother, then we may properly supply the words “shall be,” and read, “To thee shall be its turning, and thou shalt rule over it.” For when the carnal part which the apostle calls sin, in that place where he says, “It is not I who do it, but sin that dwelleth in me,”[Romans 7:17] that part which the philosophers also call vicious, and which ought not to lead the mind, but which the mind ought to rule and restrain by reason from illicit motions,—when, then, this part has been moved to perpetrate any wickedness, if it be ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 392, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On Continence. (HTML)

Section 29 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1917 (In-Text, Margin)

... whether in the flesh or in the soul, after man, not after God, which as yet exist through the sickness man hath gotten, may be restrained by continence, that so health may be gotten; and man, not living after man, may now be able to say, “But I live, now not I, but there liveth in me Christ.” For where not I, there more happily I: and, when any evil motion after man arises, unto which he, who with the mind serves the Law of God, consents not, let him say that also, “Now it is not I that do this.”[Romans 7:17] To such forsooth are said those words, which we, as partners and sharers with them, ought to listen to. “If ye have risen together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the Right Hand of God: mind the things that ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 102, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

On Two Souls, Against the Manichæans. (HTML)

Sin is Only from the Will.  His Own Life and Will Best Known to Each Individual.  What Will is. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 210 (In-Text, Margin)

... But if he has also willingly been bound that he may deceive some one by this pretext, in what respect then would those chains profit as a means of relieving him of sin? Although bound by these he was really not able to resist, as in the other case the sleeper was absolutely ignorant of what he was then doing. Is there therefore any possibility of doubting that both should be judged to have sinned? Which things having been conceded, I should have argued, that sin is indeed nowhere but in the will,[Romans 7:16-18] since this consideration also would have helped me, that justice holds guilty those sinning by evil will alone, although they may have been unable to accomplish what they willed.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 32, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

From the Epistle to the Romans. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 355 (In-Text, Margin)

... not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 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.”[Romans 7:14-25] Let them, who can, say that men are not born in the body of this death, that so they may be able to affirm that they have no need of God’s grace through Jesus Christ in order to be delivered from the body of this death. Therefore he adds, a few ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 59, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Man’s State Before the Fall. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 593 (In-Text, Margin)

... own servant the flesh, along with that feeling of confusion and trouble to itself which it certainly failed to inflict upon God by its own disobedience to Him; for God is put to no shame or trouble when we do not obey Him, nor are we able in any wise to lessen His very great power over us; but we are shamed in that the flesh is not submissive to our government,—a result which is brought about by the infirmity which we have earned by sinning, and is called “the sin which dwelleth in our members.”[Romans 7:17] But this sin is of such a character that it is the punishment of sin. As soon, indeed, as that transgression was effected, and the disobedient soul turned away from the law of its Lord, then its servant, the body, began to cherish a law of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 94, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)

The Passage in Romans. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 819 (In-Text, Margin)

... dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ out Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”[Romans 7:7-25]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 276, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

On Marriage and Concupiscence. (HTML)

On Marriage and Concupiscence (HTML)

The Evil Desires of Concupiscence; We Ought to Wish that They May Not Be. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2165 (In-Text, Margin)

... also would not. For it wills not that I should have concupiscence, for it says, “Thou shall not covet;” and I am no less unwilling to cherish so evil a desire. In this, therefore, there is complete accord between the will of the law and my own will. But because he was unwilling to covet, and yet did covet, and for all that did not by any means obey this concupiscence so as to yield assent to it, he immediately adds these words: “Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”[Romans 7:17]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 276, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

On Marriage and Concupiscence. (HTML)

On Marriage and Concupiscence (HTML)

Who is the Man that Can Say, ‘It is No More I that Do It’? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2167 (In-Text, Margin)

... assenting to evil desires. The two things are simultaneous in his case: he hates the thing himself because he knows that it is evil; and yet he does it, because he is bent on doing it. Now if, in addition to all this, he proceeds to do what the Scripture forbids him, when it says, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,” and completes with a bodily act what he was bent on doing in his mind; and says, “It is not I that do the thing, but sin that dwelleth in me,”[Romans 7:17] because he feels displeased with himself for resolving on and accomplishing the deed,—he so greatly errs as not to know his own self. For, whereas he is altogether himself, his mind determining and his body executing his own purpose, he yet supposes ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 383, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

How the Apostle Said that He Did the Evil that He Would Not. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2574 (In-Text, Margin)

... consent to the law that it is good.” For he says that he rather consents to the law than to the concupiscence of the flesh. For this he calls by the name of sin. Therefore he said that he acted and laboured not with the desire of consenting and fulfilling, but from the impulse of lusting itself. Hence, then, he says, “I consent to the law that it is good.” I consent because I do not will what it does not will. Afterwards he says, “Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.”[Romans 7:17] What does he mean by “now then,” but, now at length, under the grace which has delivered the delight of my will from the consent of lust? For, “it is not I that do it,” cannot be better understood than that he does not consent to set forth his ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 495, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

On the words of the Gospel, John v. 31, ‘If I bear witness of myself,’ etc.; and on the words of the apostle, Galatians v. 16, ‘Walk by the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth,’ etc. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3847 (In-Text, Margin)

... us then return to the words, which I had set forth out of the Apostle as obscure, and we shall now see them to be plain. For this I had set forth, that the Apostle did not say, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not have the lusts of the flesh;” because we must necessarily have them. Why then did he not say, “Ye shall not do the lusts of the flesh”? Because we do them; for we do lust. The very lusting, is doing. But the Apostle says, “Now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”[Romans 7:17] What then hast thou to beware of? This doubtless, that thou fulfil them not. A damnable lust hath risen up, it hath risen, made its suggestion; let it not be heard. It burneth, and is not quieted, and thou wouldest that it should not burn. Where ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 277, footnote 11 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Ctesiphon. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3853 (In-Text, Margin)

... that do I not, but what I hate that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it: but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”[Romans 7:14-20]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 82b, footnote 2 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)
Concerning the holy and immaculate Mysteries of the Lord. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2394 (In-Text, Margin)

... should take place and that the nourishment should be new and suitable to the birth and thus the measure of perfection be attained. Through His birth, that is, His incarnation, and baptism and passion and resurrection, He delivered our nature from the sin of our first parent and death and corruption, and became the first-fruits of the resurrection, and made Himself the way and image and pattern, in order that we, too, following in His footsteps, may become by adoption what He is Himself by nature[Romans 7:17], sons and heirs of God and joint heirs with Him. He gave us therefore, as I said, a second birth in order that, just as we who are born of Adam are in his image and are the heirs of the curse and corruption, so also being born of Him we may be in ...

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