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(Rom.3:1-3) “What advantage, then, does Judah have, or what benefit does circumcision have?” If God requires circumcision of the heart, then this is confirmed in various ways, that is, “the words of God and” and the benefits of circumcision were declared. God said this: “you must... be circumcised” (Gen. 17:10), but Abraham and Sarah were hitherto barren. He established circumcision as a confirmation; he exalted the faith of Abraham among the nations who did not know the faith; so if you asked him: “Why did you do this?” - he would answer them: “This is a sign by which the faith of my generation is sealed,” and the sons who will be born from me, countless like the stars of heaven and the sand on the seashore, will be circumcised in this way. And although some among the pagans heard and did not believe, many believed and were circumcised. In addition, the benefit of circumcision is also shown in the fact that it marks innocence, as if someone were to untie someone’s seal to prove kinship. (Rom. 3:4-5) “There is,” he says, “God is true” in justice, that is, just in truth, and did not leave the pagans themselves without law; “Every man is a liar,” he says, according to the laws of Moses, for no one had the power to fulfill them. If the laws were not given, then how is it verified that he says: “That you may be justified in your words and overcome when they judge you” (Ps. 50:6), that is, when they argue with you? Adam is condemned after breaking the law; his sons also knew that without violation they would not be condemned; just as through Nathan he condemned David and won, for he wrote: “Thou shalt not commit adultery, .. do not kill” (Ex. 20:13–14). So, God is just in His judgment, with which He imposes punishments on those who transgress the laws of the heart, rightly given by God. Shameless and stubborn (sinners) committed evil and said: our unrighteousness perfects God's righteousness, and our lies - His truth. If by my deceit His truth is magnified, then why still condemn me, as if I were guilty before Him in saying this? because, although he said: “You will be victorious in your judgment” (Ps. 50:6), he wrote laws in our hearts not for our condemnation, but for the victory of righteousness. If this is so, then “untruth... ours... confirms His truth.” ( Rom.3:6-8 ) But come and let us examine as men: if this is so, then how does God judge the world? There must, he says, be laws, even if they were given to condemn those who accepted them. But God did not give the laws for this purpose: the house of Moses believed and others were justified thanks to these laws. And this is similar to what he says: “and not as... they slander us,” saying: “let us do... evil so that good may come”; for they used to say: “where sin increased, grace abounded” (Rom. 3:20). They began to say on the contrary: “let us multiply our sins, and His grace will come to us in many ways.” Therefore those who say this are justly punished, for they laugh at grace. (Rom.3:9-18) “What profit is it to us if we enjoy advantages?” That is: what good is it to us if it seems so to you? Do we condemn Jews and pagans when we say what is written: “that there is none righteous, not one, neither seeking God.” But He mixed everyone up and put the pagans together with the Jews, in order to declare both of them to be under sin. Pointing to this he says: “Their grave is open; with their lips they deceive” (Rom. 3:13) and so on. ( Ps. 13:1-3 ). In order to answer (accordingly) to the laws, for the whole dispute was about them, he says: “we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to the sons of the law,” and to those who only boast (of them), “says:... let their lips... be stopped” (Rom. 3:19) How? With the given words: “there is no one righteous, and not one... no one gives alms” and others; for the prophets committed their deeds to the memory of (posterity). (Rom. 3:19-20) So he weakens them when he repeats in one word (all the above from Scripture), saying: “Let every mouth... be stopped,” for from those works of the law it cannot be that the mouths of the sons of the law are opened. So, the praise of both lies not in the laws of those who accuse, but in the grace of redemption, for from the law comes the knowledge of sins, that is, the truth in them (contained) was the measure of all the evils we have committed. (Rom. 3:21-28) Thus, without the law, the truth of God is revealed, and all those who repent who need help can be saved by His mercy, because there is a sharp sword that follows guilt. “And now,” he says, “the truth of God is revealed without the law,” for it is not from it, but from the Gospel that we learn faith and meekness. However, the law itself provides evidence of our justification, which can serve as a sign - either that the New Testament has already been revealed in the Old, - or the laws testify to the coming of Christ, - or that the law itself teaches meekness and faith, as, for example, when it says: “What seems evil to you, do not do to others” (Luke 6:31). There was, after all, no “difference” between one and the other, whether he sinned or not, “for all have sinned and are deprived of the glory” that God had to grant them through justification, and “we are justified freely... by His grace,” especially since God gave it to sinners from the beginning of time. Until grace was given, the law spread its rays for many centuries, in each of which sinners were freed from justice. So at the time they made the calf, who freed them? – After all, the law has already condemned those who make idols to death. So, if the laws pronounce anathema and command the death of sinners - you, who daily committed all these crimes, then how did you become saved? If, therefore, it was then affirmed that you too must be saved through grace and faith, then why do others seem to your eyes different from you and new, when without them you could not stand before the laws for a single moment of time? Sins, he says, that were before, He spared then by the revelation of this truth, and now through baptism He justifies the one who abides in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Where is ... the praise? - Excluded,” - that is: to whom does the praise apply? To those who did the works of the law? - No, - but to those who acquired a different law of faith. “So we conclude” that we have learned “that a person is justified by faith, not by works.” (Rom. 3:29-30) “Or is the God of the Jews only?” Is one half of the people loved by God, and the other hated? “No,” for in true love there cannot be a division into those loved and hated. So, if circumcision could not be useful for itself and lived by the grace given to the woman, then uncircumcision also remains. Since God knew that there is no redeeming grace in strict and harsh laws, then He did not want that, until He condescended to them with grace, man would be deprived of grace and God, for the sake of the law, would be called harsh. (Rom.3:31) “So... do we abolish the law?” - No. We are not saying that he is not important, but since his strength is stronger, our weakness could not withstand him. You might be interested in: