Theophylact of Ohrid, on Rom 3:21

“But now without the law the justice of God is made manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.”

“If you, O Jew, boast in the law, then know that it serves as the cause of greater punishment for you. For through it you learned of sin, and whoever sins with awareness faces greater punishment. But this happened through your own negligence, for you did not flee from sin once it became known to you, and therefore you brought greater punishment upon yourself. How then will you be freed from this punishment? If you accept the righteousness of God, independent of the law. For God justifies us even if we have no works, because God is almighty. He expressed it beautifully: "has been manifested," in order to show that the righteousness of God existed before, but was hidden. And with the words "to which the law and the prophets bear witness," he also shows that it is not something new, but that both the law of Moses and the prophets spoke of it, and therefore it is worthy of acceptance; for although it is independent of the law, it is nevertheless in complete agreement with the law in its aim of justifying us.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.