ACC ~ Romans 3 v27

BOASTING EXCLUDED. AMBROSIASTER: Paul tells those who live under the law that they have no reason to boast basing themselves on the law and claiming to be of the race of Abraham, seeing that no one is justified before God except by faith. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE PRINCIPLE OF FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul is at great pains to show that faith is powerful to a degree which no one ever imagined the law could be. For after saying that God justifies man by faith, he takes up the question of the law again. He does not say: “Where are the good works of the Jews?” but: “Where is their boasting?” Thus he takes every opportunity to demonstrate that it was all talk and that they had no deeds to back them up.

What is “the principle of faith”? This is salvation by grace. Here Paul shows God’s power in that he has not only saved, he has also justified and led them to boast in a different way—not relying on works but glorying only in their faith. In saying this Paul is trying to get believing Jews to behave with moderation and to reassure unbelieving Jews so that they might be persuaded to accept his point of view. For if the one who has been saved is proud because he abides by the law, he will be told that he has stopped his own mouth, that he has accused himself, that he has renounced any claim to salvation and that he has excluded boasting. But the unbeliever may be humbled by these same means and brought to accept the faith. See how great faith is, in that it has removed us from the former things and does not even allow us to boast of them! HOMILIES ON ROMANS 7.

THE LAW OF FAITH. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Now you say to me (says Paul), What new law has thrown the old one out? For when the ruler adds to the law, the law is changed. Paul answers: When the law of works came in it did not abolish the former law—on the contrary, it actually contained the former law. But when the law of faith appeared it did abolish the earlier law, having overcome the boasting which came from the law of works. These things have been given to us by the grace of God, which our forefathers, however hard they may have tried, were unable to obtain. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

AN IMAGINARY DIALOGUE. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: This verse is written in the form of an imaginary dialogue with a Jew. The Jew asks the questions and Paul gives the answers. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

PELAGIUS: This is addressed to the Jew. The principle of faith is … the New Testament, which is God’s appointed object of faith. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

JUSTIFIED BY MERCY AND GRACE. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: For who will glory, or for what, when everyone has become worthless and gone out of the right way, and nobody does good works anymore? Therefore he says that all glorying is excluded. … How? We have acquired the forgiveness of our former sins and have been justified freely by the mercy and grace of Christ. COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

A NEW COVENANT. THEODORET OF CYR: By “boasting” Paul means the proud spirits of the Jews and their excessive arrogance. For they thought they were the only ones who enjoyed God’s providence. But after the divine grace appeared and spread to all nations, the boasting of the Jews ceased. … Paul calls faith a law, recalling the words of the prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers.” INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

Rom