In the gardens of Milan，Augustine reads Romans 13:13-14，Completed a faith conversion full of twists and turns and struggles。And Yu Yu is a keen commentator on Paul’s letters 4、5th century，Augustine’s conversion also began with a careful reading of Paul’s letters，and subsequently intensively commented on Romans in the mid-490s。In the process of annotation，Romans Chapters 7 and 9 have always troubled Augustine。The former involves the issue of the fall of human bet365 tennis bet，Specifically how the fallen “I” can independently bet365 tennis bet good in Romans 7:14-25；The latter involves the issue of salvation by God’s grace，Especially since the twins haven’t been born yet，Why Jacob was destined to be saved by God。Until the late debate with the Pelagians，Augustine clearly identified it，The “I” in Chapter 7 includes the Apostle Paul himself，Even converted Christians bet365 tennis bet also encounter the dilemma of having good intentions but not being able to do them，And Jacob’s salvation in Chapter 9 was due to God’s single predestination。However，Focus on the issue of bet365 tennis bet in Romans Chapter 7，We bet365 tennis bet find out，There is a clear difference between Augustine’s interpretation and the meaning used by Paul。

　　bet365 tennis bet: One-way or split?

As summarized in my book "Augustine's Early Philosophy of bet365 tennis bet"，The verb thelō is used seven times in Romans 7:14-25，Including its infinitive thelein and participle form thelonti，To express my intention or willingness to do it。In Latin translation，They are translated as volo、velle and volenti，And these are the verb forms of the noun voluntas。However，As commented by Joseph Fitzmyer，The meaning here is just "a weak bet365 tennis bet" or "a tendency to natural emotional perception"，Rather than the concept of bet365 tennis bet originated by Augustine。This shows，While promoting it to a concept，Augustine also changed Paul’s issues and focus。

In earlier comments，Augustine has been trying to ignore the clear literal meaning of Romans 7:18-19，That is, "Willing to be good comes from me，It’s just not up to me。Therefore，The good I bet365 tennis bet，I won’t do it；The evil I don’t want，I’ll do it”。Paul emphasizes in it，“My” bet365 tennis bet can completely intend good things in one direction，The reason why you can’t actually do good things，It is because of the external control of sin，Rather than because the bet365 tennis bet itself is divided and falls into internal conflict。

In Confessions, Volume 8，Why is it so difficult to convert oneself，Augustine explained，Because the new bet365 tennis bet to love God conflicts with the previous bet365 tennis bet to obey lust，Prevent yourself from making decisions。"This way I have a dual bet365 tennis bet, a new one and an old one，One belongs to the body，One belongs to the spirit，Intertwined，This internal strife is tearing my soul apart”，Even "I struggle with myself，Causing internal divisions"。Compare with this，In Romans 7:14-25，Paul never said，A bet365 tennis bet creates internal divisions，That is, splitting into a bet365 tennis bet that wills good and a bet365 tennis bet that wills evil，So much so that they conflict with each other and constrain the bet365 tennis bet to do good，Thus unable to do good。Opposite，He emphasized，“I” has only one bet365 tennis bet and it is a bet365 tennis bet for good，Just because I can’t resist the control of sin，This makes it impossible to do the good deeds you want。In Paul’s opinion，External sin only controls the human bet365 tennis bet，But this bet365 tennis bet has not been completely destroyed，People can still have a single、Complete bet365 tennis bet to good，Instead of a divided bet365 tennis bet；After this，The coming of grace breaks the bondage of sin，Enable people’s bet365 tennis bet to do good again to perform good deeds。Anyway，As Romans 5:12 says，The bet365 tennis bet to do good can be completely preserved in the human heart，But because the first man Adam sinned，Let sin begin to dominate the entire human race，This comprehensive bet365 tennis bet to do good cannot be actually carried out。Romans Chapter 7 describes the struggle between "I" and sin as a single bet365 tennis bet for good，Instead of the struggle between the original "I" and the "I" after the split。

However，Augustine explained it as，After Adam’s first sin，The bet365 tennis bet originally created as "moderate good" has fallen，The inevitability of falling into evil；The bet365 tennis bet for good reopened by grace，But it still cannot resist the old bet365 tennis bet to evil，So that two wills fight endlessly in the same soul，"I became a big problem to me"。Different from Paul’s emphasis on sin’s domination of the bet365 tennis bet，Split based on bet365 tennis bet and internal battle of soul，Augustine proposed a new “moral psychology”，Making us full of regret for our continuous evildoing，Also full of fear about whether he can be redeemed。Because I can neither believe in my own bet365 tennis bet for good，Can’t be sure of God’s free grace，This "tortured conscience" caused the psychological crisis from the Middle Ages to Martin Luther，That is, “How do I prove that I am predestined to be saved”。

Compared to Augustine，Paul traces sin only to the fall of Adam，Sin does not evolve into "original sin" that is continuously inherited during reproduction，Nor internalized into some fundamental spiritual uneasiness，It just becomes an external restriction。This domination is expressed as "those in power、Those in power、The ruler of this dark world，And the spiritual demons in the sky”。From this，As an external jurisdiction，The law is like a “teacher”，To show the scope of sin，And only the grace of God bet365 tennis bet break the dominion of sin and replace the dominion of the law。

　　Moral Responsibility: bet365 tennis bet or Individual?

For Romans 7:14-25，The long-standing debate is，The "I" here refers to an individual human being，Still refers to the human collective。Augustine’s internalization explanation tends to the former，That is, the individual has experienced the split of his own bet365 tennis bet，And finally be saved by God’s grace。But in context，Paul should have continued the Hebrew tradition and tended to the latter，After the fall of Adam，God’s punishment is directed at the collective human race，To make them all subject to the control of sin and the control of the law，And His salvation is a free grace given to this group。

　For bet365 tennis bet collective punishment，"Romans 5:12 says，“It is as though sin entered the world through one man，Death comes from sin；So death came to everyone，For all have sinned”。Obviously，In the Fall of Adam，His descendants were not involved，Only because they are born from Adam are they subjected to bet365 tennis bet collective punishment。At the same time，In Jacob and others being predestinated to be saved，It’s not because each of them believes in God and does good deeds，It is because of God’s free grace that we receive bet365 tennis bet kind of collective salvation。

Punishment can only be understood from a collective human perspective，Only can we explain the paradoxical phenomenon of the suffering and death of the righteous，Without having to resort to some kind of agnosticism like Augustine。For example，Different from the literal meaning of Romans 5:2b，After Adam sinned，The first person to die was Abel，Instead of Cain，But Abel did not sin personally，On the contrary, he was "favored" by God because of his sacrifice；His death was not because of his sin，But because Adam sinned, death became God’s collective punishment for mankind；For Abel，bet365 tennis bet punishment is represented by Cain’s individual sin。At the same time，Job was originally a righteous man in the eyes of God，Still unwavering in his faith after going through various trials，But in the end, he was also "old"，Death when life is full”。From bet365 tennis bet，In these two cases, the death of a righteous man was not due to his own sin，On the contrary, it is because "everyone" collectively committed a crime，Causing the collective punishment of death for the righteous。

From the Old Testament to the New Testament，From the Jewish nation to all mankind，Collectivity is the core concept that explains the relationship between God and man。The election of Abraham and the predestination of Jacob were God’s covenant with the entire Jewish nation，The sending of Christ and the sending down of the Holy Spirit are God’s renewed covenant with all mankind，So much so that the fall of the old Adam and the salvation of the new disciples represent the step-by-step evolution of the human collective in the history of salvation。Due to abandoning this collective approach，Augustine must find individual reasons for the death of everyone, including babies，The explanation of this individual approach is prone to leaving theoretical gaps。He thinks，The sin of the devil and Adam was that the bet365 tennis bet that was created to be good changed from being directed toward God to being directed toward creation，Although the baby did not actively commit a crime，But he inherited the same original sin as if he committed the crime on his own initiative。However，The individualization of punishment requires an explanation of the reasons for its individualization，Including why the bet365 tennis bet suddenly takes such a turn，How original sin is inherited in the soul，How moral responsibility is attributed to each individual，Augustine cannot give satisfactory answers to these questions。If we go back to the Old Testament and Paul’s position，And assign moral responsibility to humanity as a whole，Most of these theoretical problems bet365 tennis bet be cleared up。

Of course，The lack of theoretical coherence cannot conceal Augustine’s huge theoretical contribution。Establish everyone as a moral subject，Finding moral responsibility for everyone，bet365 tennis bet individualized and internalized explanation approach makes everyone truly an independent "self"，And take full moral responsibility for his own fall，Perform all moral actions for your own salvation。In bet365 tennis bet sense，Augustine did shape the basic principles of modern society，Become the "first modern man"。

　(bet365 tennis bet article is a phased result of the 2021 National Social Science Fund general project "Translation and Research of the Complete Letters of Augustine" (21BZJ009)

(The author is a professor at Yuelu Academy of Hunan University)