THEOSISJerome of Stridon
For thus declares the Lord God: I will act towards you in accordance with how you have shown contempt for an oath and violated a covenant. I will recall My covenant with you from your youth and establish an everlasting covenant with you. You shall reflect on your past and feel shame when you receive your elder sisters alongside your younger ones; I will grant them to you as daughters, but not in accordance with your covenant. I will renew My covenant with you, and you will come to know that I am the Lord. This will enable you to remember and feel remorse, and you will not be able to open your mouth due to your embarrassment when I forgive you for all your transgressions, says the Lord God.
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For this reason, I have told you to bear your iniquity and shame, whether you have borne or will bear it, so that you may receive what is due to you, because you have disregarded My oath and broken My covenant. When the time comes, I will bring death and grant life; I will strike down and I will heal (Deuteronomy 32:39), and I will remember the covenant I made with you. I will restore My covenant with you—not the fading covenant of the law, but the everlasting covenant of the gospel, so that after you have recalled your paths and received your elder or younger sisters, Samaria and Sodom, along with their allies, I have given them to you to be daughters, or to test you (for it is necessary that divisions be revealed, 1 Cor. 11:19)—not because of your worthiness, but due to My mercy. This is so you may realize that I am the Lord, remember My blessings, be ashamed, and perhaps say alongside the Apostle, 'I am not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God' (1 Cor. 15:9), and thus never again be able to speak out of shame. It is characteristic of the saints to speak openly, as the Apostle states: Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians (2 Cor. 6:11), and our Lord and Savior, who taught the people, after having opened His mouth (Matt. 5), similarly proclaims in the Psalm (Ps. 77:2): I will open My mouth, He says, in parables. Yet to the sinner, it is said: You have sinned; remain silent (Gen. 4:7), and: Why do you take My covenant upon your lips (Ps. 49:16)? Additionally, it is stated: Praise is not fitting in the mouth of a sinner (Sir. 15:9). A faithful person is commended to hear, Open your mouth, and I will fill it (Psalms 80:11).
Thus, we conclude that even when we are granted, by God's grace, the former glory or rather the eternal covenant of the gospel, and after the Lord has pardoned all our wrongdoing, we maintain a memory of our past sins and often keep our mouths closed, for our salvation comes not from our deeds but solely from God's grace.