Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
All Commentaries on Romans 3:27 Go To Romans 3
John Chrysostom
AD 407
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
