Faith and the Witness of Creation
He was not granting the life of righteousness through faith, which is sincere and life-giving. And the prophet has said: 'from faith to faith' (Rom 1:17). For 'if you believe,' he says, 'Moses, you would have believed in me.' He teaches how much the gospel and the faith through it free from evils, and having gone through the evils both among the Gentiles and among the Jews, after this he proceeds to bring a word concerning faith, teaching that the presence of Christ had to come about.
And so he discourses about the fall of the Jews, and the last part leads to exhortations; but he begins from the word concerning the Gentiles and says how they unworthily transgressed the law written in nature by the Creator (Rom 1:18), as both the name of God and His reverence were brought into the things of God's creation. Then he also interprets how: for if the visible creation is sufficient to show the invisible, but men, leaving this, made the creatures into gods, they seized the truth of God in unrighteousness (Rom 1:19, 21), from which it is necessary to know God, having been led astray.
Not being the essence of this working, as he says: it is through the incorruptible, invisible, only wise God (Rom 1:20), but these energies, being invisible in nature and never becoming manifest to anything, are instead indicated through the creation. Therefore, it is a fantasy of something not being as it it is, and of nothing being, regarding God, of the likenesses of those worshipped by these things. From the thoughtlessness of their own mind and darkness, I have brought into their own souls (Rom 1:21, 32).
There again is the uncaused of God and the caused of man, and the justice of the coming judgment. For they do these things, not being ignorant that with God the Judge it is a punishment worthy of it; for they are manifest, not being ignorant of such a thing when they judge, and they are overtaken by death, those doing such things. When even the wicked, having the knowledge of the good, appear and use it, when they are not enticed by pleasures, they testify to the creation of God that it is good; which also the Preacher, having examined, says, that God made man upright (Eccl 7:29); and...
Greek
εἰλικρινοῦς οὐδὲ ζωοποιοῦ δικαιοσύνης τὴν διὰ πίστεως ζωὴν χαριζόμενος ἦν. καὶ ὁ προφήτης εἴρηκεν· ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν. εἰ γὰρ ἐπιστεύετε, φησί, Μωϋσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί. ∆ιδάσκει πόσων ἀπαλλάττει κακῶν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον καὶ ἡ δι' αὐτοῦ πίστις, καὶ διεξελθὼν τά τε ἐν ἔθνεσι καὶ ἐν Ἰουδαίοις κακά, μετὰ ταῦτα προϊὼν τὸν περὶ τῆς πίστεως ἐπιφέρει λόγον, ἀναγκαίαν 59 γεγενῆσθαι τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν διδάσκων. καὶ οὕτω περὶ τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐκπτώσεως διαλέγεται, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον ἐπάγει τὰς παραινέσεις· ἄρχεται δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατ' ἐθνῶν λόγου καί φησιν, ὡς τὸν ἐν τῇ φύσει παρὰ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ γραφέντα νόμον ἀδεῶς παρέβησαν. 1 Rom 1,18 Ὡς τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ὄνομά τε καὶ σέβας εἰς τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ μετενεγκόντες δημιουργήματα. εἶτα καὶ ἑρμηνεύει ὅπως. εἰ γὰρ ἡ ὁρατὴ κτίσις τὸν ἀόρατον ἱκανὴ δεικνύναι, καταλιπόντες δὲ τοῦτο οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὰ δημιουργήματα ἐθεοποίησαν, ἐν ἀδικίᾳ κατέσχον τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀφ' ὧν δεῖ γνῶναι τὸν θεὸν πλανηθέντες. Rom 1,19 Οὐκ οὐσία τούτου ἡ ἐνεργοῦσα, ὥσπερ ἑτέρωθί φησιν· ἀφθάρτῳ ἀοράτῳ μόνῳ σοφῷ θεῷ, ἀλλ' αἱ ταύτης ἐνέργειαι ἀόρατοι οὖσαι φύσει καὶ μηδενὶ μηδέποτε γινόμεναι καταφανεῖς, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς κτίσεως ἐνδεικνύμεναι. Rom 1,21 Μάταιος ἄρα τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ὡς ὄντος φαντασία, μηδενὸς ὄντος περὶ τὸν θεὸν ὁμοιώματος τῶν παρὰ τούτοις προσκυνουμένων. ἐκ τῆς οὖν ἄφρονος ἑαυτῶν διανοίας καὶ σκότος ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἑαυτῶν ἐπεισήγαγον. Rom 1,32 Ἐνταῦθα πάλιν τὸ ἀναίτιον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸ ὑπαίτιον τοῦ ἀνθρώ που, καὶ τὸ δίκαιον τῆς ἐπιφερομένης κρίσεως. ταῦτα γὰρ δρῶσιν, οὐκ ἀγνοοῦντες ὅτι παρὰ θεῷ κριτῇ κολάσεώς ἐστιν ἄξια· δῆλοι γάρ εἰσιν οὐκ ἀγνοοῦντες τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐπειδὰν κρίνωσιν, καὶ θανάτῳ τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα ποιοῦντας μετέρχονται. ὅταν οὖν καὶ οἱ φαῦλοι τὴν τοῦ καλοῦ γνῶσιν ἔχοντες φαίνωνται, καὶ χρώμενοί γε αὐτῇ, ἐπειδὰν μὴ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς παρατρέπωνται, μαρτυροῦσι τῇ δημιουργίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι καλή· ὅπερ καὶ ὁ Ἐκκλησιαστὴς ἐπιθεωρήσας φησίν, ὅτι ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον εὐθῆ· καὶ
About this text
Apollinaris of Laodicea on Romans (catena fragments).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.