The Reign Of Sin

Mὴ οὖν βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ ὑμῶν σώματι εἰς τὸ ὑπακούειν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις αὐτοῦ. Βασιλεία τυραννίδος διαφέρει ταύτῃ, τῷ τὴν μὲν τυραννίδα ἀκόντων γένεσθαι τῶν ὑπηκόων, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν βουλομένων τῶν ἀρχομένων. Παραινεῖ τοίνυν, μηκέτι δυναστείᾳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας συντίθεσθαι· κατέλυσε γὰρ αὐτῆς τὴν βασιλείαν ὁ Δεσπότης ἐνανθρωπήσας· καὶ ἅτε δὴ θνητοῖς ἔτι καὶ παθητὸν ἔχουσι σῶμα νομοθετῶν, σύμμετρα τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ νομοθετεῖ. Καὶ οὐ λέγει, Μὴ τυραννείτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀλλὰ, Μὴ βασιλευέτω. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἴδιον ἐκείνης, τὸ δὲ τῆς ἡμετέρας γνώμης. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ τῶν παθημάτων κίνησίς τε καὶ ἐνόχλησις κατὰ φύσιν ἡμῖν ἐγγίνεται· τῶν δὲ ἀπειρημένων ἡ πρᾶξις τῆς γνώμης ἐξήρτηται. Ἔδειξε δὲ καὶ τοῦ πολέμου τὸ πρόσακαιρον, θνητὸν τὸ σῶμα προσαγορεύσας. Τούτου γὰρ δεξαμένου τοῦ θανάτου τὸν ὄρον, παύεται καὶ τῶν μαθημάτων ἡ ποσαβολή. Κελεύει τοίνυν ἡμῖν, οὐ παύειν τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν τυραννίδα, ἀλλὰ μὴ ὑπακούειν αὐτῇ ἀμέτρως ἐξαπτούσῃ τὰς ὀρέξεις τοῦ σώματος. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία τῆς προς Ρωμαίους Ἐπιστολή, Τόμος Τρίτος Source: Migne PG 81.108c-d

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 1 A reign differs from a tyranny in this, that a tyranny is over those who unwillingly submit to it and a reign is a rule over those who consent to it. He exhorts us, then, to no longer agree to the power of sin, for the Lord in His incarnation has overthrown its reign; and as one legislating for mere mortals who yet has a body liable to passion, He enjoins things consistent with their weakness, and says not 'Let not sin tyrannize', but, 'Let it not reign.' For the former is its own property, the latter is a matter of our will, the motions and disturbances of the passions being produced in us by nature while the performance of what is forbidden depends on our own will. And He demonstrates the brief duration of the war by declaring the body's mortality, For in this, when it has reached the boundary of death, so the assault of the passions also cease. He calls on us, then, not to put a stop to the tyranny of sin, but not to obey it when it intemperately fastens onto the desires of the body. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary On Romans, Book Three 1 Rom 6.12