Commentary on Romans 3.8–3.9

"Whom God put forward as a propitiation through faith in his blood, to show his righteousness, through the remission of former sins, in the forbearance of God, to show his righteousness at this time, that he himself may be righteous and the one who justifies him who is of the faith of Jesus Christ." Although the holy Apostle had taught us many admirable things about our Lord Jesus Christ, which are said of him through a mystery, in this place he has brought forth something more eminent, which I do not think is easily found in other places of Scripture. For when he had said above that he gave himself as a redemption for the whole human race, to redeem those who were held in the captivity of sins, when apart from God he tastes death for all, he now adds something more sublime and says that God put him forward as a propitiation through faith in his blood: that is, that through the sacrifice of his body he might make God propitious to men, and through this God might show his righteousness, in forgiving them their former sins, which they had contracted by serving the worst tyrants at the time when God bore with and permitted these things to be done. But he permitted it for this, that afterward, that is, at this time, he might show his righteousness. For at the consummation of the age, in the last time, God manifested his righteousness and gave as redemption him whom he made the propitiator; lest perhaps, if he had sent the propitiator earlier, he would not have reconciled so many of the human race to God as in these times, when the world is now seen to be filled with men. For God is righteous, and being righteous he could not justify the unrighteous; therefore he willed that there be the intervention of a propitiator, so that those who could not be justified by their own works might be justified by faith in him. Let these things be set out first, as far as they concern the explanation of the words themselves, so that the apostolic reading may become clearer.

But now, as is our custom, let us ask what the inner sense of the apostolic word contains; and first of all how it was said: "Whom God put forward as a propitiatory (or propitiator) through faith in his blood." It is certain that in almost all places the Apostle's meaning flows from the treasuries of the law and the prophets. Let us ask, then, where he found the name "propitiatory" and from where he took this word. I remember that in Exodus the Lord, speaking to Moses and instructing him what he ought to make, first orders an ark to be made, and its poles and rings along the sides of the ark; after this he says: "And you shall make a propitiatory of pure gold; two [cubits and a half] its length, and a cubit and a half its width. And you shall make two golden cherubim of turned work, and you shall set them on the two sides of the propitiatory: one cherub on this side and the other cherub on the other side of the propitiatory; and you shall make the two cherubim to be on its two sides, spreading out their wings and overshadowing the propitiatory; and their faces shall be toward one another over the propitiatory. And you shall make the cherubim, and you shall put the propitiatory upon the ark, and into the ark you shall put the testimonies that I will give you; and I will make myself known to you from there, and I will speak to you from above the propitiatory, between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the covenant, according to all that I will command you for the sons of Israel." It clearly appears that the Apostle has now set down in his letters the name "propitiatory," found in these places, of which we are speaking. And he seems to have referred this propitiatory, of which it is written in Exodus, to none other than the Savior, the Lord, when he says that "God set him as a propitiatory through faith."

It is worth the trouble to investigate how that propitiatory described in Exodus, made of the purest gold, was the form and figure of this true propitiatory. And first it must be considered in what places the gold used in the work is called pure gold, and in what places gold alone is set down without any addition. Observing this in many places, I seem to myself to have detected that wherever gold is called pure with the addition, it indicates that holy and pure soul of Jesus, which "did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth"; and that these measures of the length and width of the propitiatory fit it, although it is hard to explain these things and to fit each of the things reported of the propitiatory to that holy soul. First, then, let us see that it says the length of the propitiatory had neither only two cubits, a number usually suited to bodies that are joined and begotten, nor a full three, a number that usually surpasses the name of creature and is consecrated to incorporeal nature. It says, then, that the length of the propitiatory was two cubits and a half, and its width one and a half. If it is permitted to be bold in such matters, since the same Apostle says of Christ that he is the mediator of God and men, this soul seems to me to be midway between God and man: placed lower than the nature of the Trinity, having something less, yet, though it is beneath it, not mingled with the number two, which is assigned to those placed in bodies, without an exceptional and surpassing eminence of its virtues. For this is shown in that its measure is designated as having something above two cubits, though less than three. And that its width is recorded as having one cubit and a half is described for this reason: that from the unity and its single station it did not grow wholly into the number two, which is sometimes set down even for unclean things. For although it took on the flesh of our nature, yet that flesh was taken from an undefiled Virgin and formed by the chaste operation of the Holy Spirit. That is why the Apostle too, discussing the Mediator, marked a clear distinction, saying: "The mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus"; so that "mediator" is to be referred not to the deity of Christ but to the humanity, which is his … Its length and width, then, are set down. The length signifies that which reaches toward God and is joined to the Trinity; the width, that which dwells among men, who are accustomed to walk the broad and spacious way. And therefore he is rightly called by the name of Mediator, because, as we said, this holy soul was midway between the divinity of the Trinity and the frailty of humanity.

This, then, can be understood as the propitiatory, according to what we said above, on which two cherubim are said to be placed, one on this side and one on the other side. Whose form, then, are these two cherubim to be thought to have? For cherubim, translated into our language, signifies fullness of knowledge. Where, then, do we speak of the fullness of knowledge, except in him of whom the Apostle says: "In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"? The Apostle says this certainly of the Word of God. And he writes similar things of the Holy Spirit when he says: "But God has revealed it to us through his Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God." It is signified, then, as I think, that in this propitiatory, that is, in the soul of Jesus, the Word of God, who is the only-begotten Son, and his Holy Spirit always dwell; and this is what the two cherubim placed upon the propitiatory indicate. But note this too: that it did not say, "One cherub on the right side and the other cherub on the left side," but said: "One cherub on this side and the other cherub on the other side," to show that in that propitiatory, that is, in the soul of Christ, there was nothing left-handed. These two cherubim are also winged; and not only winged, but spreading their wings. If any of the saints was found worthy to have the highest testimony from God, it was said that God was with him, as is said of Jesus son of Nun: "And God was with him, as he was with Moses his servant." But wherever the promise of a greater gift from God is given, God says: "And I will be in them and walk among them." But you will find among men no soul so blessed and so exalted, except this one alone, in which the Word of God and the Holy Spirit found so much breadth, so much capacity, that they are said not only to dwell, but to spread their wings, and by a new rite of the sacrament sometimes even to fly. Both cherubim are also said to have their faces toward each other over this blessed soul, by which a sense of divinity, in harmony and accord, is poured into it by the Son of God and by the Holy Spirit.

And where is this soul full of God placed, in which it pleased all the fullness of the Godhead to dwell? "Upon the ark," it says, "of the covenant." The ark of the covenant can be understood as his holy flesh, in which this blessed soul is placed, having in itself the testimonies of God, which are understood as the sufferings of Christ that he bore in the flesh, foretold long ago by divine testimonies. The heavenly powers too can be understood as the ark of God, which themselves too are capable of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit; but the soul of Jesus is set over them, and they receive the grace of the divine bounty with it, in a way, as mediator. After this: "And I will make myself known to you," it says, "from there, and I will speak to you from above the propitiatory." Not only to Moses but to each of the saints who is a servant of God, God is made known from nowhere else, nor is he known from anywhere else, than from this propitiatory that we have explained above, and from the midst of the cherubim. This the prophet Habakkuk too signifies when he says: "In the midst of two living creatures you will be known; when the years draw near you will be known, and when the time has come you will be shown." For no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. And Paul too says that "God has revealed it to us through his Spirit." That is why he says: "I will make myself known to you from there, and I will speak to you from above the propitiatory, between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the covenant." I think it was not out of place that what we took from Exodus has been explained, so that the sense might become clear of how the Apostle in the present place took up the name of propitiatory when he says: "Whom God put forward as a propitiatory through faith."

And this very word he used, "put forward," is felt to be said of the soul of Jesus rather than of his deity. For "put forward" (proposuit) is understood as "placed beforehand," that is, before it existed. For what exists is placed; what does not yet exist is put forward. It does not fit, then, to say of him who always was, that is, of the Word of God, that he was put forward; but of his soul, which, although it is inseparable from the Word of God, was nevertheless created and is later than the deity of the Only-begotten; it will not seem unfitting to say of it that before it existed it was put forward and preordained to be a propitiatory.

Since, then, according to what we explained above, God put forward Jesus Christ as a propitiatory through faith in his blood, it seems necessary to ask from the divine laws what propitiation is made through blood, so that from them we may gather how propitiation was also made through the blood of Jesus. It is written in Leviticus, after the sacrifice of the high priest: "But if the whole congregation of Israel has erred, and the matter has been hidden from its eyes, and it has done one of the commandments of the Lord that ought not to be done, and has sinned, and the sin that they have sinned becomes known to them, the congregation shall bring a calf from the herd for sin"; and shortly after: "And the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the calf into the tabernacle of testimony"; and shortly after again: "And he shall do with the calf," it says, "as he did with the calf for sin, and the priest shall make propitiation for them, and it shall be forgiven them." Through blood, then, the priest makes propitiation for the whole congregation, so that it may be forgiven them.

Let us now look for each of the names that are written of the Savior, and let us contemplate more carefully what is designated in each of the titles. You will find, then, since it pleased all the fullness of the Godhead to dwell in him bodily, that he is himself the propitiatory, and the high priest, and the sacrifice that is offered for the people. And about the propitiatory enough has now been said. About the high priest David clearly writes in the Psalm, and the apostle Paul to the Hebrews. And that he is also the sacrifice, John testifies, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." In so far, then, as he is the sacrifice, propitiation is accomplished by the outpouring of his blood, in that he gives remission of former sins; yet this propitiation comes to each believer by way of faith. For unless he gave remission of former sins, propitiation would not be proved to have been accomplished. But when remission of sins is granted, it is certain that propitiation has been fulfilled by the outpouring of the sacred blood. "For without the shedding of blood," as the Apostle says, "there is no remission of sins." But lest Paul alone should seem to you to have presumed to use the name of propitiation for Christ, hear how John too speaks in agreement on this sense, when he says: "My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours but also for those of the whole world." With one and the same sense, then, the apostles name Christ "propitiatory" or "propitiation," or, as is found more often in the Latin codices, "propitiator." But it makes no difference whether "propitiator" or "propitiatory" or "propitiation" or even "entreaty" is written, since among the Greeks it is always expressed by one and the same word. Unless perhaps to some "propitiation" may seem to be understood as his divine substance itself, and "propitiator" when he carries out the dispensations among men.

And what John said, that he is the entreaty (or propitiation) for our sins, and not only for ours but also for those of the whole world, seems to have brought us certain increases of the mystery: to show that Jesus is the propitiator not only of believers but also of the whole world; yet not first of the world and then of us, but first of us and then at last of the whole world. For although the whole creation awaits the grace of the Redeemer, yet each will come to salvation in his own order. I think this is indicated also in Leviticus, where the sacrifices of propitiation are commanded to be offered by the high priest. Yet in these the order of the sacrifices is not set out confusedly; but first it says what the propitiation is and what sacrifice is offered if the priest has sinned; second, if the whole congregation has sinned through ignorance, with what victims God is appeased; third, if a ruler has sinned, it is written in what order he is to be purified; fourth, if one soul has sinned, the rite of expiation for this too is set out. Each of these, by a mystical understanding, designates the future propitiation of Christ not only for our sins but also for the whole world, by certain orders and modes and causes; if, however, one looks at it according to that revelation which is said to have been shown to Moses on the mountain, enlightened by the Holy Spirit.

Through the propitiation of the blood of Christ, then, remission of former sins takes place, "in the forbearance of God, to show his righteousness." The forbearance of God is when the sinner is not punished at once when he sins, but, according to what the Apostle said in the same place, is led through the patience of God to repentance; and in this God is said to show his righteousness. And he did well to add, "at this time"; for in the time of the present age the righteousness of God consists in forbearance, but in that of the age to come in retribution. For it seemed just to God that, since he had appointed the age to come for judgment, he should assign the present one to forbearance and patience. For if he punished the sinner at this time, it would not seem just to call again to judgment one whom he had punished. But if he bears with and is patient in the present age, he will rightly be a just judge in the age to come. He justifies, then, him who is of faith, as it is also written of Abraham, that "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." And if Abraham believed and was justified by faith, it will without doubt follow that now too one who believes God is justified through faith in Jesus Christ with faithful Abraham.

"Where then is your boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law." Again and again we remind those who wish to attend more carefully to the writings of Paul to keep more firmly that distinction which we mentioned above: how he pursues, always by a distinct path, now the cause of the circumcision and now that of the uncircumcision, that is, of believers or of Gentiles. For if even a little of this escapes the reader, at once this narrow and slender path of understanding will be thrown into confusion. When, then, the Apostle had shown above what advantage the Jew has, or what is the value of circumcision, and had taught that the oracles of God were entrusted to them first, and by this seemed to have encouraged their boasting, by which they are usually lifted up against the Gentiles; and again had set against this, in what follows, that the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ is unto all who believe and has no distinction, but that all, Jews and Greeks, have sinned and lack the glory of God, and are justified by grace and the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and that he is the propitiatory through faith, and that everyone who is of faith is justified by him: now, setting down as it were the conclusion of his assertions, he says in this place: "Where then is your boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law." And he says that the justification of faith alone suffices, so that one who only believes is justified, even if he has accomplished no work.

It falls to us, then, who are trying to maintain that the Scripture of the Apostle is consistent and that everything stands in its order, to ask who has been justified by faith alone without works. As far as an example is concerned, I think that thief is enough who, crucified with Christ, cried out to him from the cross: "Lord Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." No other good work of his is described in the Gospels, but for this faith alone Jesus said to him: "Amen I say to you: Today you will be with me in paradise." Let us now, if you like, apply to the case of this thief the words of the apostle Paul, and say to the Jew: "Where then is your boasting?" Certainly it is excluded; and excluded not by the law of works but by the law of faith. For this thief was justified through faith without the works of the law; because the Lord did not ask about this what he had done before, nor did he wait for what work he would accomplish after he had believed, but, about to enter paradise, he took him as his companion, justified by his confession alone.

And that woman too of whom it is reported in the Gospel according to Luke, that when she had learned that Jesus was reclining in the house of the Pharisee, she brought a vessel of ointment, and standing behind at his feet and weeping, she washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed them and anointed them with ointment. And the Pharisee who had invited him, seeing it, said within himself: "If this man were a prophet, he would surely know who and what sort of woman this is who touches his feet, that she is a sinner." And Jesus told him the parable of the five hundred and the fifty … [and because of her] faith he said to her: "Your sins are forgiven"; and again: "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." And in many places of the Gospel we read that the Savior used this expression, so as to say that the faith of the believer is the cause of his salvation. From all these it is clear that the Apostle rightly holds that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law.

But perhaps someone hearing this may grow slack and take up negligence in doing good, if indeed faith alone suffices for being justified. To him we will say that if anyone acts unjustly after justification, he has without doubt spurned the grace of justification. For no one receives forgiveness of sins so as to think that license to sin has been given him again. For pardon is given not for future crimes but for past ones. To return, then, to our subject: a man is justified through faith, to whose justification the works of the law contribute nothing. But where there is no faith which justifies the believer, even if someone has works from the law, yet because they are not built upon the foundation of faith, although they may seem to be good, they cannot justify the one who does them, because faith is lacking to them, which is the seal of those who are justified by God, as we said above, that "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." It only matters that one who is justified by the grace of faith should say with Paul that "the grace of God that was given to me was not in vain."

All boasting, then, that comes from the works of the law is excluded. And to make what we say still clearer, we will give an example from what is written in the Gospel, where a Pharisee and a tax collector go up to the temple of God; and the Pharisee, it says, standing in the middle, said: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, robbers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess," and the rest. And perhaps he spoke truly; but according to the Lord's sentence, corrupted by the disease of boasting, he did not go down from the temple justified. Such boasting, then, as came from the works of the law is excluded, because it does not have the humility of the cross of Christ; hear what one who boasts in it says: "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." You see the Apostle not boasting of his righteousness, nor of his chastity, nor of his wisdom, nor of his other virtues or acts, but most openly declaring and saying: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." And so Jewish boasting has been excluded, not by the law of works but by the law of faith which is in Christ Jesus, in whose cross the Apostle boasts. For who will rightly boast even of his chastity, when he reads it written that if anyone has looked at a woman to desire her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart? Hence the prophet too says: "Who will boast that he has a chaste heart?" Or who will boast of wisdom, when he sees it written that the world through wisdom did not know God, and therefore it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe? And again: "God chose what is foolish in the world to put the wise to shame." And who will boast even of his righteousness, when he hears God saying through the prophet that "all your righteousness is like a menstruous woman's rag"? The only just boasting, then, is in faith in the cross of Christ, which excludes all that boasting which descends from the works of the law.

These things have been said by us on what the Apostle said in the manner of one asking: "Where then is your boasting?" And to this he answered himself: "It is excluded." And again, as though questioning himself, he says: "By what law? Of works?" And he answered himself: "No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law." Of these things we have spoken above. But since in the present place too he again makes mention of two laws and speaks of the law of works and the law of faith, consider for yourself, reader, whether this word ought to be inclined toward the law of Moses and the natural law, or toward the law of the letter and the law of the spirit: because the law of the letter kills and works death, but the law of the spirit of life sets free from the law of sin and death.