Marriage and Virginity (continued)
but in abject blindness are slaves to them, and even think they become happy by giving in to them rather than controlling them. On the other hand, there are those who know them through the law (Knowledge of sin is through the law [Rom 3:20], and I would not have been aware of desire, he says, if the law did not say, "Do not desire" [Rom 7:7]), but who are still overcome by their assault, and so the law has come into them and has caused sin to become more abundant in them (Rom 5:20). This is because they live under the law, whereby good is commanded but not also granted, and they do not live under grace, which bestows through the Holy Spirit what is commanded by the law. The law forbidding it has made desire stronger and indomitable, and so a wrong occurs that would not have existed without the law, even though sin existed. When there is no law, there is also no wrong (Rom 4:15). A law like that, that forbids sin when there is not the assistance of grace, gives extra power to the sinful deed; hence the apostle says, Sin's power is the law (1 Cor 15:56). It is no surprise that human weakness adds to the power of evil even in the case of a good law, as long as it trusts in its own powers to carry out that law. A wicked, proud person is not subject to God's justice, as that person does not know indeed God's justice, which he gives to the weak, and wants to set up his or her own justice,†3 whereas the weak person does not have this. The law, however, may be like a teacher and lead on to grace those it has made wrongdoers,†4 making their injuries worse so that they will want the doctor. Then, to counteract the harmful sweetness with which desire prevailed, the Lord gives a sweetness that is beneficial, making continence more pleasurable; and so our land produces its harvest,†5 providing food for the soldier who fights with God's help in the battle against sin.
8. The apostle's trumpet arouses those soldiers for battle with these sounds. So, he says, do not let sin rule in your mortal body for you to obey its desires, and do not offer your bodies to sin as weapons for deeds of wickedness, but offer yourselves to God, alive now after being dead, and offer your bodies to God as weapons of justice; for sin will no longer have power over you, as you are not subject to the law but to grace (Rom 6:12-14); and in another place, Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not in debt to the flesh, having to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, whereas if with the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live; everyone who acts by the spirit of God is a son or daughter of God (Rom 8:12-14). This, therefore, is what happens now, as long as our mortal life here is subject to grace, so that sin, that is, sinful desire (for this is what he means by the word sin here), does not rule in our mortal body. It is shown to rule, however, if its desires†6