Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 19. And all the world may be made subject to God. That is, God permitted these sins in all men, that sanctification and salvation might be from Christ only, the Redeemer of all men, so that neither Jew nor Gentile should be justified, but by the free and liberal gift of his grace. See Saint John Chrysostom [2] Witham.—That the Jews might not say that these passages were to be understood of Gentiles, the apostle here assures them that they must be understood in the first place of the Jews themselves; for what the law speaketh, it speaketh to those who are under the law. If the Jews, then, were so guilty, the guilt of the Gentiles was far more enormous. Thus is every mouth stopped, and all the world must confess itself guilty before God. Let none then glory in their good works. Calmet.