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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 3:27 - 3:27
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27. ποῦ οὖν ἡ καύχησις; Cf. Rom 2:17; Rom 2:22. This whole practice and temper of mind is here set aside, as inconsistent with the truth of man’s common relation to GOD. The class of words is almost confined to S. Paul.
διὰ ποίου νόμου; under what kind of law? So better than by …; cf. Rom 4:3; n. on Rom 3:27. The law which required for its satisfaction works might leave room for assertion of personal superiority; but a law of which the only requirement is faith or trust can leave no room for such; all that is done in that case is done by GOD. With τῶν ἔργων τοῦ νόμου must be supplied, and the reference is to the claim of the Jew. But in νόμου π. a wider sense of νόμος is introduced.
διὰ νόμου πίστεως. A unique phrase. S. Paul cuts to the nerve of νόμος here, as = GOD’s revealed will. That will is now revealed in Christ Jesus; He is now GOD’s law. Man does law only as Christ is it and does it in him, and this requires faith in Christ; so it is a law requiring not works but faith. The essence of faith as a basis of morals is the acceptance of Another’s works and a recognition that all personal achievement is due to that Other. For a similar appeal, as it were, to the deepest meaning of the word, cf. Rom 8:1, as startling after the argument of c. 7, as it is here. Cf. for a similar paradox Jam 1:25; Joh 6:29; 1Jn 3:23.