“Where is then thy boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. For it is one God, that justifieth circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we, then, destroy the law through faith? God forbid: but we establish the law.”
Because there is none just by their own merits, “There is not any man just” (Romans 3:10), there is no place to boast. Any natural goodness or talent without the love of God is misused, and even these natural goods are gifts: “Or what hast thou that thou hast not received?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Because all without love is empty, it is only in love that there can be boasting, and love comes from God alone: “Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God” (1 John 4:7). Therefore, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). It is not, then, by works of the law, done without love, but the law of faith. It is not in the arm alone, but in the heart that the law of faith is manifest: “Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm” (Song 8:6). Now, faith concerns belief in the words of God, which is seen in the Old Testament: “Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice” (Genesis 15:6), but it was not with a full knowledge of God, which was revealed in Jesus: “God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Only in the New Testament was it revealed that “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and that the commandment of God is simple: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you love one another” (John 13:34). There is a distinction between believing a great authority: “Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me” (Psalm 80:9) and believing a loving Father: “Love… believeth all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4, 7). While both are meritorious and expressions of faith, perfect faith is a manifestation of love: “He that feareth, is not yet perfected in love” (1 John 4:18); “If I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). This faith, then, is a gift of God, for when it is an expression of love, it must come from the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit breatheth where he will; and thou hearest his voice” (John 3:8). St. Paul then declares God to be the God of both Jews and Gentiles, for His merciful love extends to all and cannot be put into any box. God throughout the Old Covenant gladly welcomed those who would come to Him: “If any stranger be willing to dwell among you, and to keep the Phase of the Lord, all his males shall first be circumcised, and then shall he celebrate it according to the manner: and he shall be as he that is born in the land” (Exodus 12:48); “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (Ruth 1:16), and had dominion over all the earth: “For the kingdom is the Lord’s; and he shall have dominion over the nations” (Psalm 21:29). The full unveiling of God in Christ Jesus gave fulfillment to these mysteries: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (Galations 6:15); “But he is a Jew, that is one inwardly; and the circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit” (Romans 2:29). Because all, Jews and Gentiles, are made for love, Jesus came to fulfill this in all for those who have faith in Him: “Whom having not seen, you love” (1 Peter 1:8), bringing those of the circumcision and uncircumsion into the mystery of His love: “But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name” (John 1:12). Faith and love then establish law, seeing to what the old law pointed and bringing it to perfection: “Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17); “He that loveth his neighbour, hath fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). With the ceremonial precepts pointing to the perfect worship through Jesus: “For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Hewbrews 9:13-14) and the moral precepts being animated through love: “It is the spirit that quickeneth” (John 6:63), the law of love, “This is… the new testament in my blood” (Luke 22:20) is established.