Justified Freely in Christ
When, then, the Greeks were under sin for not knowing the Creator, and the Jews as guilty of transgressing the law, those on the earth necessarily had need of Christ, who justifies. For we have been justified “not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his great mercy” (Titus 3:5). For it was he who long ago said through the voice of the prophets, “I am he who blots out your transgressions, and I will not remember them” (Isaiah 43:25). Justifying grace passes to all alike, I mean to Jews and Greeks, because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The glory of God may fittingly be understood as this: neither to know how to do wrong nor to be of a nature that can do wrong. And the whole created order surely falls short of the glories of the Godhead, for even some of the angels slipped. Yet God the Father was pleased “to sum up all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10), who justifies freely by his grace (Romans 3:24). For he has been set forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood (Romans 3:25). Since he made his own blood the price given in exchange for the life of all, he has saved the world under heaven and made the Father and God in heaven merciful and kindly toward us.
“Where then is boasting? It is excluded” (Romans 3:27). For who at all will boast, or in what, when all have become worthless and turned aside from the straight way, and there is no one at all who does good (Psalm 14:3; Romans 3:12)? So, he says, boasting is excluded; that is, it has been thrown out and done away with, and has no place at all among us. And how was it excluded? We have been enriched with the forgiveness of sins committed before (Romans 3:25), being justified freely, by mercy and grace, in Christ.
“Do we then nullify the law through faith?” (Romans 3:31). The God of all said to the inspired Moses: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my word in his mouth, and he will speak to them whatever I command him. And the man who does not listen to his words, whatever the prophet speaks in my name, I will take vengeance on him” (Deuteronomy 18:18–19). How then do we not uphold the law through faith, when we receive the word that comes from him? Emmanuel has been called a prophet because of his humanity, standing, as it were, in the place of Moses as mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5). And again, the law was in shadows, yet it is seen to be in labor with the form of the truth; and the truth does not abolish the types but makes them clearer.
“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God” (Romans 4:2). I think, someone has said, that those who look closely into the account of our forefather Abraham ought to say this: it has been said somewhere by one of the holy disciples that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). And to this he adds: “Do you want to know, you empty man, that faith without works is dead (James 2:20)? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the…
Greek
ὅτε τοίνυν Ἕλληνες μὲν ἦσαν ὑφ' ἁμαρτίαν ὡς ἠγνοηκότες τὸν δημιουργὸν, Ἰουδαῖοι δὲ ὡς τῆς τοῦ νόμου παραβάσεως ἔνοχοι, ἐδέησεν ἀναγκαίως τοῖς οὖσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τοῦ δικαιοῦντος Χριστοῦ· δεδικαιώμεθα γὰρ "οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων τῶν ἐν "δικαιοσύνῃ ὧν ἐποιήσαμεν ἡμεῖς, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ πολὺ 179 "αὐτοῦ ἔλεος·" αὐτὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁ καὶ πάλαι λέγων διὰ φωνῆς προφητῶν "Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐξαλείφων τὰς ἀνομίας σου, καὶ οὐ "μὴ μνησθήσομαι·" διάττει γεμὴν ἡ δικαιοῦσα χάρις εἰς πάντας ἐν ἴσῳ, ἰουδαίους τέ φημι καὶ ἕλληνας, ὅτι καὶ πάντες ἥμαρτον καὶ ὑστεροῦνται τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ· δόξα Θεοῦ δὲ νοοῖτ' ἂν εἰκότως, τὸ μήτε εἰδέναι μήτε μὴ πεφυκέναι πλημμελεῖν· κατόπιν δὲ πάντως τῶν τῆς θεότητος αὐχημάτων, πᾶσα ἡ γενητὴ κτίσις· παρώλισθον γὰρ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων τινές. πλὴν εὐδόκησεν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ "ἀνακεφαλαιώ"σασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ" τῷ δικαιοῦντι δωρεὰν τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι· τέθειται γὰρ ἱλαστήριον διὰ πίστεως ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πεποίηται τῆς ἁπάντων ζωῆς ἀντάλλαγμα τὸ ἴδιον αἷμα, σέσωκε τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανὸν, ἵλεών τε καὶ εὐμενῆ κατέστησεν ἡμῖν τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς Πατέρα καὶ Θεόν. Ποῦ οὖν ἡ καύχησις; ἐξεκλείσθη. Τίς γὰρ ὅλως ἢ ἐπὶ τίσιν καυχήσεται, πάντων ἠχρειωμένων καὶ ἐκκεκλικότων τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ, καὶ οὐδενὸς ὄντος παντελῶς τοῦ ποιοῦντος χρηστότητα; οὐκοῦν ἐξεκλείσθη φησὶν ἡ καύχησις, τουτέστιν ἐκβέβληται καὶ ἀνῄρηται, τόπον οὐκ ἔχουσα παρ' ἡμῖν οὐδένα· ἐξεκλείσθη δὲ τίνα τρόπον; τὴν πάρεσιν τῶν προγεγονότων ἁμαρτημάτων πεπλουτήκαμεν, ἐλέῳ καὶ χάριτι δικαιούμενοι δωρεὰν ἐν Χριστῷ. Νόμον οὖν καταργοῦμεν διὰ πίστεως; Ἔφη τῷ θεσπεσίῳ Μωυσεῖ ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός "Προ"φήτην 2 αὐτοῖς ἀναστήσω ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτῶν ὥσπερ "σε καὶ δώσω τὸ ῥῆμά μου ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ, καὶ λα"λήσει αὐτοῖς καθότι ἂν ἐντείλωμαι αὐτῷ· καὶ ὁ ἄνθρω"πος ἐκεῖνος ὃς ἐὰν μὴ ἀκούσῃ τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ ὅσα ἂν 180 "λαλήσῃ ὁ προφήτης ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐγὼ ἐκδικήσω ἐξ "αὐτοῦ." πῶς οὖν οὐχ ἱστῶμεν νόμον διὰ τῆς πίστεως τὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ προσιέμενοι λόγον; καὶ προφήτης ὠνόμασται διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, ὁ ὡς ἐν τάξει Μωσέως μεσίτης Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων. καὶ πάλιν ὁ μὲν νόμος ἦν ἐν σκιαῖς, πλὴν ὠδίνων ὁρᾶται τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν μόρφωσιν· οὐκ ἀναιρεῖ δὲ τοὺς τύπους ἡ ἀλήθεια, καθίστησι δὲ ἐμφανεστέρους. Εἰ γὰρ Ἁβραὰμ ἐξ ἔργων ἐδικαιώθη, ἔχει καύχημα ἀλλ' οὐ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Χρῆναι δὲ ὑπολαμβάνω, ἔφη τις, τὸν περὶ τοῦ προπάτορος Ἁβραὰμ πολυπραγμονοῦντας λόγον, ἐκεῖνο εἰπεῖν Εἴρηταί που τινὶ τῶν ἁγίων μαθητῶν, δίχα τῶν ἔργων τὴν πίστιν εἶναι νεκράν· προσεπάγει δὲ τούτοις τό "Θέλεις δὲ "γνῶναι, ὦ ἄνθρωπε κενὲ, ὅτι ἡ πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων "νεκρά ἐστιν; Ἁβραὰμ ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων ἐδι"καιώθη ἀνενέγκας Ἰσαὰκ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ