Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Romans
Chapter 8
Ver. 1. Notwithstanding this law of sin opposing the law of the spirit, and endeavouring to captivate us to sin, we can, by the succour of the grace of Jesus Christ, preserve ourselves from sin and damnation, by resisting sin, and attaching ourselves strongly to Jesus Christ, by faith and charity. Concupiscence is not sin. And they who have received a spiritual birth in Jesus Christ by baptism, and have remained faithful to the grace of their justification, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, shall receive a recompense proportionate to their combats and labours. (Calmet)
Ver. 2. The law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus. That is, the new law, by which the Holy Ghost, or the spirit of life is given, hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death: that is, from the slavery of sin, that causeth death: though some think that the law of Moses may be here called the law of death, and of sin, because it occasionally brought death upon such as transgressed the known law. (Witham)
Ver. 3. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, not in sinful flesh, (because the Son of God could not sin) hath now done; even of sin hath condemned sin in the flesh. That is, in or by his flesh, which was offered on the cross, hath condemned the tyrant sin, as guilty of so many sins, and hath destroyed his tyranny, where the apostle speaks of sin, as it were of a certain person or tyrant. (Witham)
Ver. 4. That the justification of the law. That is, that was aimed at, but never attained to, by the written law, might now be fulfilled in us; that is, that we, by the grace of Christ, may be enabled to fulfil and comply with the law, and its moral precepts, by walking according to the spirit of Christ. (Witham)
Ver. 5. &c. For they who are according to the flesh. That is, who live according to the false, vain, and deceitful maxims and customs of carnal men, which he also calls the prudence of the flesh: and this prudence he calls death, as leading men to eternal death. Such carnal men relish nothing else but such pleasures. But they who are and live according to the spirit, mind the things which are of the spirit, fix their hearts on the things that belong to God, and his service; and this wisdom of the spirit, in which they experience much greater pleasure, leads them to eternal life, and to eternal peace in the enjoyment of God. The false wisdom of the flesh is an enemy of God, cannot be subject to the law of God, because the maxims of the flesh, and of the world, are so opposite to those of the gospel, and to the doctrine of Christ. (Witham) --- They who are subject to the flesh, by having their affections fixed on the things of the flesh, that is, carnal men, whilst they are such, cannot please God: for this prudence of the flesh makes them the enemies of God. (Estius) --- If Christ, or the spirit of Christ, which he also (ver. 9.) calls the spirit of God, as being one and the same, dwell in you, and direct you, the body indeed is dead because of sin; that is, is mortal, and liable to death, the consequence of Adam's sin; but the spirit and the soul liveth by the life of grace, by reason of justification: that is, because she hath been justified and sanctified by the merits of Christ. And the spirit of God, who raised Jesus to life, will also raise all who remain sanctified by the grace of Christ to a happy resurrection. (Witham)
Ver. 14. &c. They are the sons of God, by this new grace of adoption, by which also they call God, Abba; that is to say, Father, whereas under the former law of Moses, God rather governed his people by fear; they were his servants, we are his sons; and if sons, also the heirs of God, with the promise of an eternal inheritance in his kingdom, provided we suffer for Christ's sake, as he suffered for us. And surely the short sufferings in this world have no proportion, nor can be put in balance with the future endless glory, which is promised and prepared for us in heaven. (Witham) --- Abba is a Syriac word, which signifies my father. This is properly the word of free and noble children; for amongst the Hebrews, the children of slaves were not allowed to call their fathers Abba, nor their mothers Imma. This kind of expression was very rarely used under the old law. The Hebrews called the Almighty their Lord, their God, their Salvation, their King, their Protector, their Glory, &c. but seldom their father, scarcely ever, except in the case of Solomon, who was a particular figure of the Messias, the true Son of God. On this account God said to him: "He shall call me Father and God; and I will be to him a Father, and will treat as my first-born." But it is the property of the Christian to call the Almighty his Father with confidence indeed, yet tempered with a filial awe; remembering at the same time that he is his judge. (Calmet) --- Mat. Polus says that not any one of the just dared to call God, my Father, before the coming of Christ, as this favour was reserved for the time of the gospel. (In this location.) (Haydock) --- St. Chrysostom[1] takes notice, that God was also called the Father of the Israelites, and they his children, in the Old Testament, when God rather governed his people by fear of punishments, and promises of temporal blessings, but not in that particular manner as in the new law. (Witham) --- The Spirit himself, &c. By the inward motions of divine love, and the peace of conscience, which the children of God experience, they have a kind of testimony of God's favour; by which they are much strengthened in the hope of their justification and salvation; but yet not so as to pretend to an absolute assurance, which is not usually granted in this mortal life: during which we are taught to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians ii. 12.)
And that he who thinketh himself to stand, must take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians x. 12.) See also Romans xi. 20, 21, 22. (Challoner) --- He hath given to us, says St. John, (chap. i. 12.) the power, or dignity, of being the sons of God. Christ taught us to pray, and to begin our prayers with our Father, &c. (Matthew vi. 9.) (Witham)