ACC ~ Romans 3 v5

WHETHER GOD’S WRATH IS UNJUST. ORIGEN: Paul says that it is wrong to say that God is unjust for bringing wrath on men. For how will the one who judges the world be thought to be unjust, when his very title of Judge shows that he does nothing without judgment? And where there is judgment, it follows that there will be justice. For the words judge and judgment are both derived from justice.

The idea being expressed here does not accord with God or with the wisdom of God, but with man and with what has just been said, viz.: “All men are liars.”

But it is perfectly logical and right to say that justice is the enemy of unrighteousness, just as life is the enemy of death and light is the enemy of darkness. Therefore God, in whom is justice, is said to bring wrath on men, in whom unrighteousness dwells. For justice and unrighteousness are natural enemies. So how could God be regarded as unjust, simply because he is fighting unrighteousness? COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

WHETHER OUR WICKEDNESS SERVES TO SHOW THE JUSTICE OF GOD. AMBROSIASTER: David had sinned in the case of Uriah the Hittite. Because he knew that the promise would not be given to sinners, he pleaded that the righteousness of the words of God might overrule the judgment which said that the promise should not be given to sinners and that it might sanctify the penitent in order to give him what God had promised he would give to the righteous. To this Paul adds that … if God is justified because we are sinners, it would be wrong of him to pardon us on that account. If it can really be said that our wickedness is of some advantage to God, then there is some measure of truth in this reasoning. But it is dangerous to speak like that. God is not unjust if he judges, because our unrighteousness is of no benefit to him. It is not as if he would somehow be justified by our sins or as if he would somehow rejoice at our sins, by which he alone would then appear to be righteous.

This way of thinking suits men but not God, because it does not happen that God should ever be unjust, only man. Nor does our unrighteousness make God righteous if he gives to us sinners what he promised to the saints, for although we are sinners, we are reformed by repentance so that it is not as sinners but as those who have been cleansed that we are readied to receive the promise. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

WHETHER GOD’S JUSTICE EXCEEDS OUR CONCEPTIONS OF JUSTICE. CHRYSOSTOM: What does Paul mean? God honored the Jews, but they dishonored him. This gives God the victory and shows the greatness of his love toward man, in that he continued to honor them in spite of what they were like.

But if this is true of us (someone might say), why am I to be punished when I have contributed to God’s victory by dishonoring him? Paul answers this by a corresponding absurdity. In effect, he says that if this man were the cause of God’s victory and he was punished as a result, it was an injustice. But if God is not unjust and the man was punished, then he could not have been the cause of God’s victory. … For God’s justice far exceeds what we think of as justice and is based on other ineffable criteria. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 6.

PELAGIUS: Now the apostle begins to answer the objection. It is unjust if God punishes sinners merely in order to appear even more righteous. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

DEPRIVED OF GOD’S PROMISES. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: It is not that our wickedness increases God’s justice, but at that time when we come into judgment with God we shall be deprived of his promises as retribution for not having obeyed his commands. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

THE SOURCE OF ADVERSITIES. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: When adversities come … or when by God’s just judgment hostility, dryness or death is imposed, we should attribute this to our sins rather than to God’s injustice. SERMON 70.1.

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