Blessed Theodoret writes: "The Apostle says here that since the law could not fulfill its own purpose, those who accept the law because of their weakness, since they had a mortal and passionate nature; then the Only-begotten Word of God, having become man, crushed sin in human flesh, fulfilling all righteousness; but not accepting the shame of sin (that is, being sinless), and having endured the death of sinners like a sinner, he exposed the unrighteousness of sin, since he gave up to death a body that was not subject to death. But it is He Himself who crushed both sin and death. For the Word of God, as not subject to death, because He did not create sin, but having received it according to the unjust sentence of sin, became as freedom in the dead (Psalm 87:6), the redemption of those who are justly kept under the power of death." — The sin-justifying power of the coming of the Son of God in the flesh is indicated here. St. Chrysostom depicts the more sinful victorious power of this coming. He says: "Imagine that the king's son, seeing in the market that a woman of low fortune and homelessness is being beaten, calls himself her son and thus frees her from the hands of the offenders. The Son of God did the same; He, having confessed Himself to be the Son of Man, came to the aid of the flesh and condemned sin. And sin no longer dared to beat her; or, rather, although he struck with a mortal blow, however, what is most surprising, it was not the flesh that was smitten, but the one who struck sin, that was condemned and perished. If the victory had not been accomplished in the flesh, it would have been less surprising. But it is surprising that Christ, being in the flesh, erected a trophy (Trophy is Greek: τροπαΐον – a monument of victory and victory proper), and the very flesh that sin had overthrown a thousand times overthrew won a brilliant victory over him. Such is how extraordinary there is in this! The first is that sin has not conquered the flesh; secondly, that he himself was conquered, and conquered by the flesh; third, that the flesh not only conquered, but also punished. Christ, because He did not sin, appeared invincible; but by the fact that he died, he conquered and condemned sin, making for him terrible the very flesh that was formerly despised. By this He destroyed the power of sin and destroyed the death introduced into the world by sin. Do you see how many victories have been won?! The flesh is not overcome by sin, sin itself is conquered and condemned, and not just condemned, but as a sinner."

Verse 4. May the justification of the law be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

All that has been said was done by the Lord in His flesh, in His Person. "Thou shalt ask, Is it of any use to me that these things have been accomplished in the flesh of Christ? For you it is" (St. Chrysostom). What exactly? The fact that we now walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, "we do not want to live carnally, but spiritually" (Ecumenios). The Apostle does not explain how such a change took place in us; for he wrote to Christians, who bore such a change in themselves and knew how it was accomplished. The sin-justifying and sin-victorious power from Christ the Lord passes into every believer who puts on Christ in holy baptism and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit in Chrismation. For this reason he immediately begins to walk not in the flesh, but in the spirit. But this is not done mechanically, but as a result of free changes in the inner mood of a person. Let us recall what has been said under the 2nd verse of this chapter. The fallen one became self-satisfied, self-pleasing, voluptuous. Passionate self-indulgence, which was a quality in the soul-body and was moved by voluptuousness, was the source of hopeless sinfulness, the law of sin that operated in our minds, or that carnality of which St. Paul writes here. But the grace of God comes in Christ Jesus and restores the spirit of man to his rights, forms in him a self-sacrificing zeal to please God by fulfilling His holy will, ready for this even to die. In response to this mood, which at the beginning occurs only as if in thought, the grace of God, which has hitherto acted consciously, descends in the sacraments within, and, dwelling in the spirit, makes that which was only predestined before it become the essential elements and functions of man's inner life. And he begins to live in spirit in God, pleasing Him, in every possible way and selflessly sacrificing to Him his soul-bodily nature, suppressing all passionate self-pleasing — he begins, in other words, to walk not in the flesh, but in the spirit. "To walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit," writes Ambrosiastes, "means: to serve God with the mind, which is the spirit, not agreeing with sin (self-gratification), which through the flesh sows lusts in the soul."

What is the fruit of such walking not in the flesh, but in the Spirit? That the justification of the law is fulfilled in us, that is, only in us, believers, and not in anyone else: for only we receive the strength for this, and we form in ourselves the mood suitable for it. He who lives in the spirit is zealous to please God; that which is pleasing to God is expressed in His law, both in the law of conscience and in the written law, which has clarified and confirmed that law and merged with it. He who lives in the spirit is thus zealous to fulfill the law, and, as one who has the power to do so, actually fulfills it. As such are only those who believe in the Lord, they alone are faithful doers of the law, in other words, it is only in them that the justification of the law is fulfilled. The justification of the law is either the righteousness required by the law, or the intention of the law and its purpose. It will be that what the law had in mind, for which it was given, and it was given to make us righteous and holy, is fulfilled in us, believers, and only in us. And why only in us? Because in us only that because of which the law was weak will be taken away, the law of sin that which dwells in the flesh will be taken away, and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus begins to operate, in other words: because only we can live and do live not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

St. Chrysostom says: "What does justification mean? End, goal, success. What did the law seek and what did it sometimes do? For a person to be sinless. This is what Christ has done for us now. His business was to confront and conquer, and ours was to enjoy the victory. Thus, we will no longer sin, we will not, if we do not relax and fall in spirit. For this reason the Apostle added: in us who do not walk according to the flesh. And so that, hearing that Christ has delivered you from the battle (single combat) with sin, and that through the condemnation of sin in the flesh the justification of the law is fulfilled in you, you do not neglect the necessary preparation (mood, readiness), the Apostle, as above, having said: not a single condemnation, added: not according to the flesh; so here He added the same thing to the words: "That the justification of the law may be fulfilled in us." Or, more correctly, something much more is added here. Having said, "That the justification of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh," he added, "but according to the Spirit," giving them to understand that we must not only abstain from evil, but also adorn ourselves with good. Christ's work is to give you a crown, and yours is to keep it on yourself. Christ did for you that which was the justification of the law, namely, that you should not be subject to an oath. Therefore, do not lose this gift, but guard this beautiful treasure. By this the Apostle inspires you that baptism is not enough for our salvation, if after it we do not show a life worthy of this gift. Consequently, this also is said again in defense of the law. For even after believing in Christ, all things must be done and done, so that the justification of the law, which Christ has fulfilled, may work in us, and not remain powerless."

Again, the suggestion that a holy and righteous life is an essential norm of life for a person worthy of this name is imprinted on my thoughts. It was man's original purpose in creation; it was the goal of all God's providential actions before the law; it was meant by the law; for it and the entire New Testament economy of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The essential condition for it to appear in deed, in reality, is life not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, that is, the restoration of the original order of human nature, so that man lives in spirit in God and by His power authoritatively rules soul and body, a structure that has been truly restored in Christ Jesus by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 5. For those who are according to the flesh are philosophical: and those who are according to the Spirit, spiritual.

He explains why the justification of the law is fulfilled only in those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. There is no other way, he says: for those who walk in the flesh, or, what is the same thing, those who are in the flesh only think about the flesh, — they have no time for the law, they do not care about the law. Only those who walk in the Spirit, or, what is the same thing, those who are in the spirit of the Spirit, are philosophical, they take care of what is in accordance with the requirements of the spirit, or with the law; for the law is spiritual. Such is the constitution of the carnal and the spiritual, that the soul of the former does not lie in the lawful; and these only think that everything should be lawful, in accordance with the will of God and pleasing to God. Why only these can fulfill the justification of the law, the purpose of the law is that we should be holy.

Those who are according to the flesh are not the same as those who wear the flesh, but those who live in the flesh, those who please the flesh in lust (cf. 13:14). We are not talking about the nature of the flesh, but about the mood of a carnal person. "This does not incline to the accusation of the flesh, says St. Chrysostom; as long as it observes its own order, nothing is incongruous. When we give free rein to the flesh, and it, having transgressed the limits set for it, will rise up against the soul; then everything destroys and spoils not by its own nature, but by reason of immoderation and the disorder resulting from it."

Those who are according to the flesh — however, the expression is very strong. It indicates such an immersion in the flesh that it is as if there were nothing else in man except the flesh. With our human eye we see few of these: for in any one who is devoted to the flesh, everything is manifested in him, and the soul is shown to be active, and sometimes the spirit is natural to man. But does not the eye of God see all the fallen in this way: for such is the law of the fall, that he who falls from the spirit no longer stops in the soul, but falls to the very bottom — into the flesh. Carnality is the ruling principle even for those who live with their souls (scientists, craftsmen, businessmen). It is the background, and the rest are all different figures drawn against this background.

Wisdom here does not mean only thoughts or ways of thinking, but the entire internal system, thoughts, concerns, plans, sympathies, deeds, and even dreams and dreams, which moves, governs, and arranges everything. "To the carnal," he says, "those who have given themselves over to lusts have only all care and care" (Ecumenios). "Those who have given themselves over to immoderate slavery to the flesh always care only about the things of the flesh" (Blessed Theophylact). "Only to them is sweet that the flesh delights" (Ambrosiastes).

Those who are in the Spirit are those who live in the Spirit in God, think of the things of God, desire the things of God, are comforted by the things of God, are moved by the fear of God, and are guided by the promptings of a conscience enlightened by the commandments — all by the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Lord Jesus Christ. To be according to the spirit is the norm of man's life after creating him. But after the fall he was no longer in spirit, although the spirit was in him: for he was in him, but he had no decisive power; He gave a voice, but they did not listen to him. Such are all those who have not yet risen from the fall. A person begins to be in spirit only after receiving grace – regenerated. Here the spirit enters into its rank, takes power and rules everything in man, determines the norm of his life. Such a person is concerned only with this: to be in God in spirit and to direct everything only to what pleases Him. "Those who have completely submitted to the Spirit think and do all spiritual things" (Blessed Theophylact). Spiritual and bodily life are not suppressed or stifled, but, having been inserted into their natural limits, they are directed thither, to what is pleasing to God, and through this they are spiritualized, and the whole external life of man, in all its respects, is spiritualized. Thus, those who are in spirit do not forget the things of the flesh, but only spiritualize them; but those who are in the flesh forget about spiritual things, or perhaps it can be said that they do not forget either, but only make things solid.

Verse 6. For wisdom is carnal, death is: but spiritual wisdom is life and peace.

Bo — for; Again, the reason. The chain of causes is knitted here by St. Paul: for the next verse also begins with the causal particle zane. — What is the reason for the present verse? To this, I believe, it precedes in the nearest way, namely: and those who are in spirit (they reason), spiritual; it is shown why they do this: according to the consciousness that only in spiritual wisdom is there life, and in carnal wisdom is death. And experience confirms this: for nothing strengthens life according to the spirit so much as the consciousness, sensation and taste of moral and religious well-being in such an order of life and the remembrance of what a joyless yearning in the heart is the source of life according to the flesh. "And theoretically, it should be so; for he who is in spirit and holds spiritual wisdom lives in the spirit in God and, strengthened by His power, directs the actions of soul and body and all his relationships to the pleasing of God. Through this, being in living union with the source of all life, he is filled with true life, which, attuning to one all the manifestations of his own life, both internal and external, brings into it harmony and peace, more beautiful, sweeter and more delightful than man can imagine on earth. On the contrary, carnal wisdom — a life at a distance from God and with forgetfulness of Him, a life of voluptuous self-indulgence, moved and agitated by passions — that which keeps us far from the source of life, makes human nature meager, exhausted, and withering; but by the fact that, contrary to the natural order of human nature, it gives the predominance of the flesh and soul over the spirit, introduces discord into this nature, which decomposes and corrodes it. Both respond with languor, similar to the agony of a dying man. Fearing this already tried-and-true deadening action of carnal wisdom, the one who has entered into spiritual wisdom holds on to it all the more zealously, all the more zealously, because he feels and tastes the life and peace that he exudes.