Commentary on Romans 3.1–3.31

(Verses 1 and 2.) “What advantage, then, has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way. First, because the oracles of God were entrusted to them.” Though there are many things that pertain to the honour and merit of the seed of Abraham, he openly mentions only this, because it is their greatest praise that they were judged worthy to receive the law, through which they might learn to distinguish right from perverse; so that after this first one the other things might be understood for what they are. But since he has shown that the testimony of race profits carnal Jews, that is, unbelievers, nothing, so that he might not seem to have treated all badly, that is, believers too, he teaches that it is very profitable to believing Jews that they are sons of Abraham. For to them the oracles of God were entrusted, when they receive, renewed by the merit of the fathers, the law which had fallen out of use through people’s sins, as if one could sin with impunity before God; and they are called the people of God. Egypt too is struck with various plagues for the injuries done to them; they are fed with heavenly bread; they are a terror to all nations, as Rahab the prostitute testifies; and to them Christ the Saviour was promised for sanctification (Josh 2:9ff.). Therefore he says it is very profitable to the Jews in every way that they are sons of Abraham: for they are placed before the gentiles, but those who believe.

“For what if some of them did not believe? Will their unbelief make void the faithfulness of God? By no means.” He says: because some of the Jews would not believe what God promised to the sons of Abraham, the other Jews will not therefore be prejudiced, so as to be said not to be worthy to receive what God promised to the faithful; seeing that the promise was so made as to profit those who believe. Therefore God, not indignant because of the faithlessness of those, that is, of the Jews, will give to the rest who believe the eternal life which he promised would come through faith in Christ; because those who did not believe made themselves unworthy without prejudice to the others. By saying this he commends the believing Jews, because it does not harm them that many of them refused to believe.

“For God is truthful, but every man a liar, as it is written: That you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged” (Ps 51:4). To confirm what he said above, that God is faithful in his promise and every man a liar, he added a prophetic example from the fiftieth psalm, by which he marked both that God is justified in his words and that man is a liar because of unbelief. For both are read in the book of Psalms, that God is just and truthful and every man a liar (Ps 116:11). He calls a man a liar when he does not believe what God promised; for in denying that he will give what he promised, he is a liar; and while he is himself a liar, he declares God a liar for many reasons when he does not believe his promises. Therefore he calls every man a liar who distrusts the promises of God. This pertains above all to the Jews, whose case the apostle treats here, who, seeing Christ, denied that he was the one God promised; and therefore they are declared liars. But God is truthful, who sent Christ as he promised; and so he prevails when he is judged, because he will give what it is denied he will give: for when he is not believed, he is judged a liar. But when he gives what he is judged not about to give, he prevails, showing himself truthful, and the one who does not believe his words a liar. For he will see the Son of God in majesty, whom he denies; he will see too the resurrection of the flesh, and will know that faithlessness has been conquered by the promise and truth of God. For Christ also, when he was judged, prevailed: for he was unjustly killed, and made the devil guilty, whom he had already overcome by not sinning, so that, conquered a second time, he lost those whom he held. (Verses 5 and 6.) “But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) By no means.” The apostle says this according to the sense of the prophet David. When David had sinned in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam 11–12), knowing that the promise cannot be given to sinners, he prays that the justification of God’s words may prevail over the judgment by which those who sin are judged (Ps 51:4), and that God may renew the penitent by sanctifying him, so as to give him what he promised to give to the righteous. And therefore he added: “But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God,” and so on; that is, if God is justified because we are sinners, he will be unjust if he punishes. For if our unrighteousness profited him, he would doubtless be unjust if he condemned sinners; ... For although we have been sinners, yet we are renewed through repentance, so that, no longer sinners but washed, we may deserve to receive the promise. That is not, then, the sense of the words of the prophet David when he says, “Against you alone have I sinned, and done evil before you, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged” (Ps 51:4), which is asserted by the perverse interpretation of malicious people: that the sins of people and evil acts profit the justification of God, and that he appears good through our evils, and our unrighteousness shows him righteous. Since, then, God is not unjust when he inflicts wrath, he is not justified by our sins: for if he were justified by our sins, he would be unjust if he punished. But since he is not unjust when he punishes, it is plain that our unrighteousness does not commend the righteousness of God. If it did commend it, he would not punish, because he is just. And therefore he added: “I speak,” he says, “as a man. By no means”: that is, far be it that God should be called unjust; for this befits man, who, it is agreed, both errs and is deceived and deceives. For God remains unchangeable and cannot fail to love what he made. “Otherwise how will God judge this world?” It is true, for it would not be just for God to judge the world if its sins profited him, so that, when sinners obtain pardon by his nod, God would seem good, and if they did not sin, he would not seem just; for if they do not sin, having no one to forgive, he will not be good.

“For if the truth of God has abounded to his glory through my lie, why am I still judged as a sinner?” It is plain that if the lie of people profits the glory of God, so that he alone appears true, those who sin are not to be called sinners; because they will seem to sin not by their own will but by his impulse: which be far from us.

“And not (as we are slandered, and as some say that we say), let us do evil that good may come?” Now he discloses for whose sake he argues these things so carefully and with reverence. For this was objected by perverse people, as though this were the sense of those who preach the remission of sins: that they should do evil and good would come; that is, that they should sin so that God might seem good by forgiving them, according to what was said above. This he calls blasphemy, and he rejects it with the assent of divine teaching. For faith does not teach that one ought to sin, since it preaches that God will judge; but it takes thought for those who have offended, so that, having recovered salvation, they may live under the law of God and sin no more. And therefore he added: “Whose condemnation is just”; that is, the condemnation of those people who out of envious rivalry interpret what was said above in this way about us is just. For the Jews spread these things abroad in order to slander the apostolic teaching, saying that when they preach the remission of sins they supply fuel for sinning, so that people, as if secure about remission, would sin readily; whereas it is agreed that after receiving the faith it is dangerous to sin, and this is preached to believers.

“What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have charged that Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” That is, why do we still linger speaking at length? For we have shown, with reasons given, that Jews as well as Greeks are all guilty, and therefore that the law is kept in vain. For first he showed the Greeks to be guilty according to the law of nature, and because they would not receive the law of Moses either; for which reason their case is the worst and most grievous. Then he showed the Jews too to be guilty, who seem to live under the law of God and claimed dignity for themselves by the merit of the fathers, chiefly on this ground, that they spurned the promise of the fathers, bringing the grace of God to nothing. To confirm this matter he added a prophetic example from the thirteenth psalm, saying:

“As it is written: For there is no one righteous” (Ps 14:1ff.). He began to list their evil works from unrighteousness, and to add worse ones in part, to make plain that there is no hope to be seen in them unless they implore the mercy of Christ, who forgives sins. (Verses 11 and 12.) Then he added: “There is no one who understands.” It is true, for if he took pains to understand, he would not be unrighteous. “There is no one who seeks God.” Nor is this hidden, for if he understood what would profit, he would seek God; and not like Asa king of Judah, who after the great benefits of God became so depraved that, suffering a disease of the feet, he did not seek God, though a prophet was present (1 Kgs 15:23). “All have turned aside, together they have become useless.” No one doubts that all who do not seek God turn aside, so as to seek help from vanity; and vanity is an idol; therefore they become useless. “There is no one who does good, there is not even one.” Because, having neglected God, they have become useless, they certainly cannot do good; for, being already depraved, they go on to worse.

“Their throat is an open tomb.” Already enslaved to evils, they wished, if it could be done, to devour the good; so that as a tomb lies open to receive corpses, so their throat lies open against the good. “With their tongues they acted deceitfully.” Those who had grown so used to evil works spoke deceitfully. “The poison of asps is under their lips.” He says this because the words of such people are traps. For they speak in order to deceive; so that as poison is poured in through a serpent’s lips, so too deceit and trickery through their lips. (Verse 14.) “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” It is plain that the wicked always set forth curses and bitter things against the good, breaking out into abuse and detraction of them. (Verse 15.) “Their feet are swift to shed blood.” He said this of the slaughter of the prophets, whom they killed eagerly, swift to murder.

“Ruin and misery are in their ways.” Since they were roused to do evil, he declares their journey or step afflicted and unhappy. “And the way of peace they have not known.” The way of peace is gentle and undisturbed; for every good life is tranquil, and modest acts are themselves peaceable, and by them one goes to God. They, then, unwilling to know this, chose the way of affliction, by which one goes to Gehenna.

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Since they are of such a mind, they do not have the fear of God: for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” said Solomon (Prov 1:7). And he did not say that they lack the fear of God, but: “There is no fear of God,” he says, “before their eyes.” For seeing their works so malicious and not shuddering, they are said not to have the fear of God before their eyes. All these the prophet Jeremiah too signifies, saying among other things: “Then all rose up against the prophet of the Lord, wishing to kill him.” And it follows: “But all the people did not permit it” (Jer 26:8, 24). By the first “all,” then, he means the wicked; by the second “all,” the good. For when he says, “All have turned aside,” he does not signify the whole people entirely, but this part of the people, as the prophet mentioned relates: “in which all the wicked established themselves.” For there are always two peoples in one nation. This, then, is the people whom the Lord grieves over under the name of Jerusalem, saying: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kill the prophets” (Matt 23:37); and in another place: “An evil and adulterous generation,” and, “brood of vipers” (Matt 12:39, 34). Of such the prophet Isaiah too complains, saying: “Woe to a sinful nation, a most wicked seed!” (Isa 1:4). For through an evil will, while they produce evil fruits, they are a most wicked seed. And that they could be converted if they wished, the word of the apostle proves, saying in another letter: “We too were once by nature children of wrath, as the rest” (Eph 2:3). “But we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are in the law.” It is plain that the law rebukes those who first did not believe their leader Moses, nor the prophets their kinsmen, whom they persecuted and killed, nor the apostles their relatives according to the flesh, whose blood they shed, always ungodly and rebellious against God; so that they are condemned through the law whose authority they thought should be despised. For as there is one cause of all evils in an evil person, so also of all goods. In these, then, the evil of all who are like them is rebuked. These things pertain to the confusion of the Jews, who claimed testimony from the law for themselves and their fathers.

“So that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may become subject to God.” He says this because, once the Jews are bound in sins, the whole world becomes subject to God. For no one doubts that the pagans are buried in offences and ungodliness, and therefore the whole world lies prostrate before God, so that it can come to pardon; for the whole world was Jews and gentiles, from whom the faithful have been separated. When, then, he proves that the Jews, who received the law from God and to whom the promise was made, are liable to sins, there is no doubt that all Greeks are guilty of death. Therefore he says: “So that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may become subject to God,” while all, proved guilty, need the mercy of God, Jews as well as Greeks. (Verse 20.) “Since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified before God.” He asserts that people are not justified before God, not because they did not keep the law of righteousness in its precepts, but because they would not believe the sacrament of the mystery of God which is in Christ. For through this God decreed to justify man, not through the law, since the law justifies for a time, not before God. Therefore those who keep the law in time are righteous, but not before God; because the faith through which people are justified before God is not in them. For faith is greater than the law, because the law pertains to us, faith to God. Therefore the law has a temporal righteousness, faith an eternal one. For by saying “all flesh” he signified every person, as the prophet Isaiah also says: “And all flesh will see the salvation of God” (Isa 40:5), that is, every person will see the Christ of God, in whom the salvation of all is contained. And they are signified as flesh because they are liable to sins. For as righteousness makes people spiritual, so offences make them carnal; so that a person takes his name from his conduct. “For through the law is the knowledge of sin”; but through faith its abolition; therefore faith is to be followed. What is this law through which he says sin is made known, and made known how? For we see that the ancients were not ignorant of sin; for Joseph too was sent to prison, though by slander (Gen 39:20), and Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker, because of sin (Gen 40:3). How, then, were sins hidden? The law is threefold: so that the first part concerns the sacrament of the divinity of God; the second is that which agrees with the natural law, which forbids sin; and the third is that of deeds, that is, of the sabbath, the new moon, circumcision, and so on. This, then, is the natural law, which, partly renewed through Moses, and partly with its authority confirmed in restraining vices, made sin known; not that it was hidden, as I said, but it showed that the sins which are committed will not go unpunished before God, lest perhaps someone escaping for a time should be thought to have mocked the law. This is what the law shows.

“But now without the law the righteousness of God has been manifested, having testimony from the law and the prophets.” It is clear that the righteousness of God appeared without the law, but without the law of the sabbath and circumcision and the new moon and vengeance; not, however, without the sacrament of the divinity of God, since the righteousness of God is from the sacrament of God. For when the righteousness of God pardoned those whom the law held guilty, it certainly did this without the law; because on those whom the law would have punished, it bestowed forgiveness of sin. And lest this should be thought done against the law, he added that the righteousness of God has testimony from the law and the prophets; that is, the law itself in another part had long ago said that this would come; for one was to come who would save people (Isa 19:20), which was not granted to the law, to forgive sins. It is called the righteousness of God, though it seems to be mercy, because it has its origin from the promise; and when the promise of God is fulfilled, it is called the righteousness of God. For it is righteousness, because what was promised has been rendered; and when he receives those who flee to him, it is called righteousness, because not to receive one who flees for refuge is iniquity.

“But the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.” What else is “through faith in Jesus Christ” but that the very righteousness of God is the manifestation of Christ? For through faith in the preaching of Jesus Christ the gift long promised by God is recognized, or received. “Toward all and upon all who believe,” that is, upon all Jews and Greeks who believe the righteousness of the true God.

“For there is no distinction; for all have sinned and lack the glory of God.” Because he had said that the righteousness of God is upon all Jews and Greeks, to prove this he added: “For all,” he says, “have sinned.” This is to be taken generally, so that both Jews and Greeks are understood; hence he says, “There is no distinction”; for here he includes all, even the priests, to show that the law profited nothing without faith. For the law was given in such a way that there should be faith in the law, which hoped for the salvation to come. Therefore the death of Christ profited all, because he both taught here in the world what is to be believed and observed, and rescued all from the underworld.

“Justified freely by his grace.” They are justified freely, because, doing nothing and making no return, they have been justified by faith alone, by the gift of God. “Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” He testifies that the grace of God is in Christ, because by the will of God we have been redeemed by Christ, so that, set free like slaves by manumission, we might be justified; as he also says to the Galatians: “Christ redeemed us” (Gal 3:13), offering himself for us. For he gave himself up to the raging devil, but the devil did not foresee. Thinking that he could hold Christ, he received him as it were; but because he could not bear his power, he lost, together with him, all whom he held.

“Whom God set forth as a propitiator of faith.” He says this because in Christ God set forth, that is, determined, that he would be propitious to the human race if they believe. “In his blood.” “In his blood” because we have been freed by his death; so that he might both show him dead and condemn death by his suffering.

“For the showing of his righteousness”: that is, to make public his promise by which he would free us from sins, as he had promised beforehand; and when he fulfilled it, he showed himself righteous. “Because of the purpose concerning previous offences, in the patience of God.” God, knowing the purpose of his kindness by which he resolved to help sinners, both those who are among the living and those who were held in the underworld, waited a very long time for both, setting aside the sentence by which it seems just that all should be condemned; so as to show us that he had long ago decreed to free the human race through Christ, as he promised through the prophet Jeremiah, saying: “I will be propitious to their iniquities, and their offences I will not remember” (Jer 31:34). And lest perhaps he should seem to have promised this gift to the Jews alone, he says through Isaiah: “My house will be called a house of prayer among all nations” (Isa 56:7). For though the promise was made to Judaism, God, foreknowing that the ungodly Jews would reject his gift, promised that he would admit the nations to receive his grace, so that the ungodly Jews, provoked to anger by rivalry with them, would be tormented. “In this time,” that is, in our time, in which God gave what he had long ago promised to give, at the time when he gave it. “That he may be righteous, justifying the one who is of faith in Jesus Christ.” He rightly says that in order to be righteous he gave what he promised; and he promised this, to justify those who believe in Christ. And he says in Habakkuk: “But the righteous lives from faith” (Hab 2:4); so that, while he has faith in God and in Christ, he may be righteous.

“Where, then, is your boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.” Having given the reason, he speaks to those who live under the law, that they boast without cause, flattering themselves about the law and because they are the race of Abraham, when they see that a person is not justified before God except through faith.

“For we hold that a person is justified through faith without the works of the law.” He says that it is held for certain that a gentile is justified by believing, doing no works of the law, that is, without circumcision, or new moons, or veneration of the sabbath.

“Or is he God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the gentiles? Yes, of the gentiles also.” Without doubt the one God is God of all. For the Jews alone cannot claim that their God is not also God of the gentiles, since they acknowledge that the origin of all is from one Adam, and that no stranger willing to come to the law is forbidden. Indeed some of the Egyptians went out with them into the desert, whom they were commanded to receive (Exod 12:38ff.), provided only that they were circumcised and ate the unleavened bread or Passover together with them; and also that Cornelius, a gentile not living as a Jew, received the gift of God, and that he was justified was proved by divine testimony (Acts 10:31).

“Since indeed there is one God, who justified the circumcision from faith and the uncircumcision through faith.” By circumcision he signifies the Jews, because they have been justified from faith in the promise, believing that this is the Christ whom God had promised in the law. By uncircumcision he signifies the gentiles, justified before God through faith in Christ. For he justified the gentiles as well as the Jew in no other way than by believing; for since there is one God of all, he justified all by one principle. What, then, does circumcision of the flesh profit, or what does uncircumcision harm, when nothing but faith gives dignity and merit?

“Do we, then, make void the law through faith? By no means; but we establish the law.” The law is certainly not emptied through faith, but fulfilled; for its standing is confirmed when faith testifies that what the law said would come has arrived. This is on account of the Jews, who think that faith in Christ is hostile to the law, not knowing the sense of the law. He does not, then, make the law void when he now teaches that it must cease; for he asserts that it was rightly given in its own time, but that it ought not now to be in force. For in the law itself it was said that the law must cease at the time when the promise was fulfilled; for the angel Gabriel showed this to the prophet Daniel, who desired to know it (Dan 9:25), saying among other things that when Christ came the chrism, that is, the royal anointing, which is understood as power, would cease. “And judgment,” he says, “will be no more,” which is the law, “and my sacrifice will be taken away.” He says “my” so that it would be known that the old offering would cease. Disclosing this sense, the Saviour says: “The law and the prophets were until John” (Luke 16:16). And because, when the law of Moses ceased, God was going to give better precepts, the prophet Jeremiah sang, saying: “Behold, the days will come, says the Lord, and I will complete for the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the one I gave their fathers” (Jer 31:31–32): to those, certainly, who received Christ when he came according to the promise. Therefore the Saviour says: “I came not to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfil them” (Matt 5:17). And because the house of God would be not only in Jerusalem but also in other places, the prophet Zechariah says: “I will set Jerusalem among all nations” (Zech 12:2): which is the Church.