Severian of Gabala

In his own words on Romans

• Romans 1:1

  Paul here preaches the divinity of Christ to a world which was ignorant of it. Many people saw the Lord, and others believed in him without seeing, but Paul was called from heaven: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He was more highly favored than the other apostles, for the Lord called Peter and James and John and made them his disciples; he did not immediately make or call them apostles. But he made Paul an apostle as soon as he called him. Thus the gospel is preached according to the plan of God.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 1:2

  Paul says "his prophets" because there are also prophets of idols, and by the word his he distinguishes one type of prophet from another and one gospel from another. For there are many gospels, but they are moral and temporary, whereas that of Christ proclaims in the holy Scriptures the enjoyment of eternal blessedness. These prophets are his because they are not of another god but of the Father of Christ.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 1:7

  Paul does not say "to the saints" lightly—for "many are called but few are chosen" and not all have remained in their calling—but so that he would not be throwing holy things to dogs. … According to the heretics, if Christ is the Lord and God is our Father, then the Father will be a servant of Christ, for as the son is, so is the father. But it is not like that at all. Paul said that God is our Father, in order to show his grace, and that Christ is Lord, in order that the Romans should not become proud and think that because they too were sons of God they could despise the glory of the Son or raise themselves up beyond what was natural. Paul called God "the Father" because he judges no one, but the Son he called "Lord," because he is the judge. He calls God "the Father" so as to point out his guardianship over us. He calls the Son "Lord" so that we might understand that we are called sons by the goodness of God but that Jesus is the true God by nature and our Lord.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.136

• Romans 1:13

  There were many who sped to Rome for human reasons. Paul reveals his own chaste desire to go there and that his motive was a godly one. It appears that he longed after the Romans, perhaps because their faith had become an encouragement to all their subject peoples.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 1:27

  Paul did not say this lightly, but because he had heard that there was a homosexual community at Rome.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 1:32

  When Paul talks about the "judgment of God" he means the just recompense which God gives to everyone according to their deserts. For men know by their natural reasoning that transgressors will be punished by God, but instead of ceasing from their wicked ways they are actually pleased with those who do such things!… Therefore God will judge those who do such things as absolutely and without question worthy of death.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 2:5

  When talking about the way they were "storing up" an accumulation of sins, Paul showed that there would also be a greater store of punishment, as a result of the patient endurance of the judge toward those who were suffering so incurably.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 3:23

  Paul shows that nature has failed the Gentiles and that both nature and the law have failed the Jews, before going on to mention the grace of the gospel and saying: "What do we have by grace which is special and superior? Faith, made effective by the righteousness of Christ." … Paul does not say that all have broken the law but that all have sinned in a general sense. Now the one who is lacking something tries to make up his deficiency. The Jews had the law, but they were lacking the fullness of grace.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 4:11

  Circumcision was given for these three reasons: First, to be a sign of faith; second, to mark out the race of Abraham, and third, to be a sign and symbol of good and wise behavior. It was not given in order to produce righteousness but as a sign and seal of the righteousness which was Abraham's by faith.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 4:13

  Paul says that the righteous will inherit the world because the ungodly will be thrown out and handed over to punishment on the day of judgment, but the righteous will possess the universe which remains, and will have been renewed, and the good things of heaven and earth will be theirs.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 5:19

  Notice that when Paul talks about sin and righteousness he uses the word many, for not everyone sinned before the coming of the law, nor has everyone who has received grace been justified—for "many are called, but few are chosen." But when he talks about the death and resurrection of the body, he uses the word all.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 6:3

  Since we are baptized we confess that we have died to the world and have been buried to sin and the devil. .

• Romans 6:4

  "Newness of life" means that we have put off the old life of sin and that our rebirth promises a new way of life.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 7:8

  It is not reasonable to condemn completely someone who has sinned in ignorance. But when the law was given and revealed sin, it gave sin power. This was not a condemnation of the law but a punishment of the contempt shown by those who did not keep it. For if it is true that without the law sin lies dead, it is also true that sin is dead when the law is kept.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 7:24

  Having considered the struggle which was taking place in the body against the soul and how man was imprisoned by this, Paul now seeks a way to escape and tries to rescue man, so that the body of death may be transformed into a body of life.… For Paul wants his body to be a body of life and not a body of death or of sin.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 8:9

  By "Spirit of God" Paul here refers to the spiritual gifts of the New Testament.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 8:29

  Paul says "the image of the Son" meaning the Holy Spirit, because just as the Son is the immutable image of the Father, so the Spirit is of the Son. For those who have been made worthy by the Holy Spirit live according to the Spirit and are conformed to the Spirit, who is the image of the Son.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 8:34

  The context shows that there is one person who intercedes and another who receives the plea. Nor is it improper for the Son to ask and for the Father to grant the request, for thus the complementary relationship between the two persons is maintained.… This text teaches us that there is a distinction between the Father and the Son which must not be confused.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

• Romans 10:4

  This does not mean that Christ is a part of the law but rather that he is the beginning of a new life. The law has come to an end; it has ceased.

  PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH