ACC ~ Romans 3 v19

THE WHOLE WORLD. ORIGEN: Here we must consider carefully what this law is that speaks to those who are under the law. By what it says to them it deprives them of every excuse, so that they can find no hiding place for their sins. It is this which stops every mouth and makes the whole world accountable to God. Now if we want to take this as referring to the law of Moses, which without doubt spoke only to those who had been circumcised from their mother’s womb and had learned what the law was, how is it possible that by that law, which applies to only one nation, every mouth should be stopped and the whole world should be held accountable to God? What have the other nations to do with that law, and why does it affect the entire world? And how is it that a knowledge of sin is said to have originated with the law of Moses, when there were many before his time who were well aware of their sins?

From this it appears that the apostle Paul is not speaking here about the law of Moses but about the natural law which is written on the hearts of men. … This natural law speaks to all men who are under that law with the sole exception, it seems to me, of those children who are not yet able to distinguish good from evil. . . .

When Paul says “the whole world” he is not talking about trees and rocks and so on but about the rational animal, i.e., the human being. Anything which is not rational is excluded from consideration in this context. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

BOUND IN SIN. AMBROSIASTER: It is clear that the law censures those who did not believe first of all their leader Moses nor their ancestors the prophets, whom they killed, nor the apostles who were their kinsmen according to the flesh, whose blood they spilled. They were always ungodly and rebellious against God, so as to be condemned by the law whose authority they thought should be despised.

Paul says this because with the Jews bound in sin the whole world has become subject to God. For there is no doubt that the pagans were immersed in sins and wickedness and that for that reason the whole world bowed before God in order to obtain forgiveness. The “whole world” means Jews and Gentiles, from whom believers are set apart. Therefore when Paul affirms that the Jews, who had received God’s law and to whom the promise had been given, were bound in sin, there is no doubt that all the Gentiles were guilty of death … for all have been found guilty and need the mercy of God, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

EVERY MOUTH STOPPED. CHRYSOSTOM: Note that Paul was in the habit of referring to the entire Old Testament as “the law” … for here he calls a psalm “the law.”

When he talks about every mouth being stopped, he does not mean that the purpose of their sinning was to shut them up but that the reason they were rebuked was that they might not sin in ignorance. Furthermore, it was not just the Jews he was referring to but the whole of mankind. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 7.

THE NATURAL LAW. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Paul is talking about the natural law here. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

UNDER THE LAW. PELAGIUS: In case the Jews might claim that these verses of the psalm were spoken about the Gentiles, Paul indicates that what has been said in the law has been said to those who are under the law. Of course, it is a question as to who is meant by saying that the fool claims that there is no God. The Jews did not say this in words but in deeds, for they claimed to know God but denied it by their behavior. Paul is not talking to the Gentiles here, because he has already made similar statements about them. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

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