Therefore the first freedom is not to commit crimes. For this reason the Apostle Paul, when choosing those whom he wishes to appoint as presbyters or deacons, and all who are called to govern the Church, does not say, “If anyone is without sin.”
If he had said this, every man would have been rejected and no one would have been appointed. Rather, he says, “If anyone is not burdened with crime.”
He means murder, adultery, any carnal uncleanness, theft, falsehood, sacrilege, and other things of this kind. When a man begins to avoid these things, and every Christian must avoid them, he begins to lift his head toward freedom.
But this is initial freedom, not perfect freedom.
Why, someone may ask, is this not perfect freedom? “Because I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind” (Rom 7:23). “For I do not do what I will,” he says, “but what I hate, that I do” (Rom 7:15).
“The flesh,” he says, “lusts against the spirit, and the spirit wars against the flesh, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Gal 5:17). There is freedom in part and slavery in part.
Freedom is not yet whole, not yet pure, not yet complete, because it is not yet eternity. For we are partly held by weakness and partly receive freedom.
All our former sin was destroyed in Baptism. But because all unrighteousness was destroyed, does no weakness remain? If none remained, we would live here without sin.
Who would dare say this, except the proud, except one unworthy of the mercy of the Liberator, except one who wishes to deceive himself and in whom there is no truth?
Therefore, because something of weakness remains, I dare to say this. Insofar as we serve God, we are free. Insofar as we serve the law of sin, we are still slaves.
For this reason the Apostle says what we have begun to cite: “According to the inner man, I delight in the law of God” (Rom 7:22). We are free when we delight in the law of God, for freedom delights.
As long as you do what is righteous out of fear, God does not delight you. As long as you act as a slave, He does not delight you. Let Him delight you, and you will be free.
Do not fear punishment; love righteousness. Can you not yet love righteousness? Then at least fear punishment, so that you may attain the righteousness you desire.
Do not misuse freedom in order to sin freely. Use it, rather, so that you may not sin. Your will will be free if it is pious.
You will be free if you have been a slave: free from sin, and a slave of righteousness.
This is our hope, brethren: that we may be freed by the Free One, and that by freeing us He may make us His slaves. We were slaves of greed, but once freed, we become slaves of love.
The Apostle also says this: “You were called to freedom; only do not use freedom as an occasion for lust, but through love serve one another” (cf. Gal 5:13).
Therefore let no Christian say: “I am free. I was called to freedom. I was a slave, but I was redeemed, and through redemption I became free. I will do what I want.
“Let no one stand in the way of my will, if I am free.” Yet if you commit sin by this will, you are a slave of sin.
Do not misuse freedom in order to commit sin freely. Use it so as not to sin. Your will will be free if it is pious.
You will be free if you are a slave. You will be free from sin and a slave of righteousness, as the Apostle says: “When you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.
“But now, having been freed from sin and become slaves of God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end is eternal life” (Rom 6:20, 22). Let us strive for this and act accordingly.
The first freedom is to avoid crimes, crimina. By crimes one should understand not only murders, participation in robbery, and similar things, but every situation in which a man transgresses the law.
Be attentive, brethren. Be attentive, so that I do not mislead you about what this freedom is now, and what it will be in the age to come.
Look at any very righteous man in this life. Let him already be worthy of the name righteous, and yet he will not be without sin.
Listen to holy John himself, to whom this Gospel belongs, as he says in his Epistle: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn 1:8).
Only the One free among the dead can say such a thing. Of one alone could it be said that He is without sin. Of one alone could it be said: “He was tempted in all things like us, yet without sin” (cf. Heb 4:15).
One alone could say: “Behold, the prince of this world comes, and he will find nothing in Me” (cf. Jn 14:30). If you find some righteous man, he will nevertheless not be without sin.
Even Job was such a man. The Lord gave such testimony about him that the devil hated him, tried to tempt him, and was defeated while tempting him. Thus Job’s righteousness was proved; see Job 1-2.
It was proved not so that he might receive the victor’s crown and be distinguished by God, but so that he might be glorified among men and become an example for imitation.
What does Job himself say? “For who is clean? Not even an infant is clean, whose life on earth is one day” (Job 14:4 LXX).
It is clear, however, that many are called righteous as men without complaint against them. This should be understood as men without crime, sine crimine.
In human affairs there is no ground for complaint against those who are free from crime. A crime, crimen, is a grave sin deserving accusation and condemnation.
Yet God does not condemn some sins while justifying and praising others. He praises none of them and hates them all.
Just as a physician hates disease in the sick man and, through care, acts so that the disease may be removed and the sick man rise, so God by His grace works in us so that sin may be destroyed and man set free.
But you ask, will it ever be destroyed? If it loses strength, why is it not destroyed? It loses strength in the lives of those who become better, but it disappears only in the lives of the perfect.
Therefore the first freedom is to avoid crimes. For this reason the Apostle Paul, when determining whom to choose as presbyters and deacons, and whom to choose for leadership in the Church, does not say, “If anyone is without sin.”
If he had said this, every man would have been rejected and no one would have been chosen. Rather, he said: “If no crime is attached to him” (cf. Tit 1:6).
He means murder, adultery, any filth of fornication, theft, deceit, sacrilege, and things of this kind. As soon as a man is freed from these, and every Christian must be freed from them, he begins to lift his head toward freedom.
But this is only initial freedom, not perfect freedom. Why, someone may ask, is it not perfect freedom?
Because “I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,” and “what I will, I do not do, but what I do not will, that I do” (cf. Rom 7:23, 19).
“The flesh,” he says, “desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh, so that you do not do what you would” (cf. Gal 5:17).
This is partly freedom and partly slavery. It is not yet whole, not yet pure, not yet complete freedom, because it does not yet belong to eternity.
For we partly possess weakness and partly have obtained freedom. Everything that was our sin was previously destroyed in Baptism.
But because every evil thing was destroyed, did no weakness remain at all? If none remained, we would live here without sin.
Who would dare say this, except the arrogant man, unworthy of the mercy of the Redeemer, and the one who wishes to deceive himself and in whom there is no truth? See 1 Jn 1:8.
So, because something of weakness remains in us, I dare say that in one measure we serve God and are already free. In another measure we serve the law of sin and are still slaves.
For this reason the Apostle said what we began to discuss: “According to the inner man, I delight in the law of God” (Rom 7:22). We are free insofar as we take delight in the law of God, for freedom brings joy.
As long as you do what is righteous out of fear, God does not bring you joy. As long as you act as a slave, He does not bring you joy. Let Him bring you joy, and you will be free.
Do not fear punishment, but love justice. Can you not yet love justice? Then fear punishment, so that you may attain the love of justice.
Thus the Apostle already felt himself free in the part mentioned above, and therefore said: “According to the inner man, I delight in the law of God.”
The law delights me. What the law commands delights me. Justice itself delights me.
“I see another law in my members.” This is the weakness that remains in me, “warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members” (Rom 7:23).
In this part he felt captivity, where full righteousness is absent. Where he delights in the law of God, he was not a captive, but a friend of the law.
And therefore he was free, because he was a friend. What is to be done with the rest? What else, except to turn one’s gaze to Him who said: “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn 8:36)?
At last, the Apostle himself, whose words we have cited, cried out to Him: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 7:24-25).
Behold: “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” And he concludes: “So then, I myself serve the law of God with the mind, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Rom 7:25).
“I myself,” he says. There are not two of me, opposing each other and produced from different principles. Rather, “I myself serve the law of God with the mind, but with the flesh the law of sin,” as long as weakness stands in the way of salvation.
If through the flesh you serve the law of sin, do what the Apostle himself says: “Therefore let not sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its desires.
“And do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness” (Rom 6:12-13). He did not say, “Let there be no sin.” He said, “Let it not reign.”
While sin must still be present in your members, at least let it be deprived of royal power. Let what it commands not be carried out.
Does anger arise? Do not offer anger your tongue for abuse. Do not offer anger either your hands or your feet for fighting.
This irrational anger would not arise if there were no sin in the members. But take away its power. Let it be deprived of the weapons by which it fights against you.
It will forget how to arise when it ceases to find weapons. “Do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness,” or else you will be wholly captives and unable to say, “I serve the law of God with the mind” (Rom 6:13; 7:25).
For if the mind possesses the weapons, the members will not incline to serve sin. Let the inner emperor, that is, the mind, sit in the fortress, for he is under the authority of a greater Emperor who is ready to give help.
Let him suppress anger. Let him restrain desire. Still, what must be suppressed is within. What must be restrained is within. What must be held in check is within.
What else did that righteous man desire, who served the law of God with the mind, except that what needed to be bridled should cease to exist entirely?
Everyone who strives for perfection must long for this: that desire itself, receiving no obedience from the members, may daily diminish in the one who improves himself.
“I have the will to do good, but not the completion” (cf. Rom 7:18). Did the Apostle say, “The doing, facere, of good is not in me”? If he had said this, there would be no hope.
He did not say, “The doing, facere, of good is not in me,” but, “the completing, perficere, is not in me.” Augustine draws attention to the distinction between facere, to do or undertake, and perficere, to bring to completion.
What is the completion of good, if not the destruction and abolition of evil? And in what does the destruction of evil consist, if not in what the Law says: “You shall not desire” (Ex 20:17; cf. Rom 7:7)?
THEOSIS