Interesting tidbit - 10 (Rom 3:30)

A:  What is the meaning of Romans 3:30 — "since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one"? Does "by faith" mean something different than "through faith?"

Q:  Theologians have have long puzzled over the reason why believing Jews are said to be justified "by faith," but believing Gentiles "through faith." Some hold that there is no difference in meaning between the two.  But others say that the justification of the Jews, as born heirs of the promise, are purposely said to be "of faith," while that of the Gentiles, previously "strangers to the covenants of promise" (Eph 2:12), are said to be "through faith," as thus admitted into a new family. So who's right? 

It seems to me that the second explanation makes more sense, that the answer to this question lies in the original status of each.  The Jews, belonging to the covenant race, were justified by (Gk., literally "out of") faith, while the "far off" Gentiles (Eph 2:13) must come through (Gk., literally "by way of" or "by means of") faith; but both Jew and Gentile are justified by God upon believing.

Not only were the Jews justified "out of" faith, it is also evident that they were justified by way of works, whereas the Gentiles were justified directly "by way of" faith. For the Jew, sacrifices, etc. were (instrumentally) the means of his justification — he came "by way of" works — but the Gentile comes directly "by way of" faith for his justification.

And according to this verse, all is based on the fact that "God...is one."  I think Vine explains this rather well:

“The oneness of God was a belief basic to Judaism and proclaimed by every devout Jew each day (cf. Deuteronomy 6:4). Here Paul appeals to this doctrine, claiming that since God is one, He must have the same concern for the salvation of the Gentile as he does for the Jew. The Judaism of Paul’s day, however, did not draw the same conclusion from God’s essential unity. They taught that the only way a Gentile could be rightly related to God was to become a proselyte to Judaism, including coming under the yoke of the law. And even then, they were always Gentiles, never quite up to the level of Jews by birth. In the eyes of the Jew, they had no natural claim on God. Paul says, however, that God is interested in the Gentiles apart from the law and that contrary to certain Jewish expectations, the Gentiles are saved through the same faith that saves a Jew.”