Barth

 The Gospel is therefore justified in accepting and appropriating the ‘witness’ which Judaism and Paganism bear to the revelation of God (3:21). But by grace alone do we become aware of the sense that is in non-sense (4:16); for there is no direct communication from God, and therefore the appropriation of the sense in the non-sense of the world of religion can only be by faith. We know too that we ourselves are subject to a like limitation. Our election, our signs, and our witness, have also their own criticism latent within them.

Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, trans. Edwyn C. Hoskyns, Sixth Edition (London; Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1968), 193.