Arms Of Righteousness

Sed exhibete vos Deo, tanquam ex mortuis viventes, et membra vestra arma justitiae Deo. Intuere per singula sapientiam Pauli. Ubi dicit arma non esse praebenda peccato vel iniquitati non nos, sed membra nostra ponit. Ubi vero suadet, ut nos Deo exhibeamus, non tam membra nostra quam nos ipsos exhiberi vult Deo, hoc est anima vel propositum cordis: ut primum nosmetipsos exhibuerimus, et erimus adhaerentes Deo, tunc demum etiam membra nostra efficiamus arma justitiae. Rursus si peccati concupiscentiam mortificemus in corpore nostro mortali, efficiemur tanquam ex mortuis viventes, mortui peccato, et viventes Deo; et membra nostra arma justitiae militantia ei, cui ea deservire justissimum est. Bene autem metaphoram superius propositam exequitur ut in regno peccati membra nostra arma nominaret iniquitatis, rursumque arma justitiae nominaret in regno Dei. Guillelmus S Theodorici Abbas, Expositio In Epistolam Ad Romanos, Lib III, Caput VI Source: Migne PG 180.608b-c

But exhibit yourselves to God as those living from the dead, and your members as the arms of righteousness for God. 1 Observe the wisdom of Paul in each thing. When he says our arms must not be offerred to sin or wickedness, it is not us but our members he specifies. But when he exhorts us to exhibit ourselves to God, it is not so much our members but ourselves he wishes to be exhibited to God, that is, the soul or the intent of the heart, so that first we exhibit ourselves, and we are those who adhere to God, and then at last we make our members the arms of righteousness. Again if we mortify the lust for sin in our mortal bodies, we are made as living men from the dead, those dead in sin, and we live to God, and our members are the arms of righteousness for Him, Him whom it is most right to serve with all diligence. Well employed is the metaphor above, so that he might name our members as the arms of wickedness in the kingdom of sin, and again that he might name them the arms of righteousness in the kingdom of God. William of St Thierry, Commentary on Romans, Book 3, Chapter 6 1 Rom 6.13