Romans 3:27-31 NKJV – 27 Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or [is He] the God of the Jews only? [Is He] not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since [there is] one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
V27 Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
A person under Mosaic Law might be boastful about their holiness. See Luke 18:18-21 and Luke 18:11-12. The opposite attitude is found in Luke 17:10.
What law condemns boasting? It is not Mosaic Law because it was works-oriented. The Law of Faith excludes bragging rights because faith is a gift, a believing, a yielding to God. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
V28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Justification is defined as (Dictionary of Bible Themes) “The acquittal, or declaration of being righteous, before God as judge. It is a central aspect of Paul’s understanding of what God achieved for believers through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
There is no justification by keeping Mosaic Law. Faith is the method God chose for justification. Faith is believing what God declares humans to be (lawbreakers), the punishment (God’s wrath), and the solution—Jesus. When we believe in whom Jesus is, what He came to do and did, His resurrection, and His message, then salvation and justification are accomplished. Compare Romans 8:1.
V29 Or [is He] the God of the Jews only? [Is He] not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also…
Jews and Gentiles need to believe only. The Jews had a tendency to believe that they alone would have salvation, but the Scriptures are clear that both Jews and Gentiles need to believe and trust in Jesus in the same way. Compare Acts 2:38-41 (Jews), Acts 8:4-8 (Samaritans), and Acts 10:44-48 (Gentiles). The Holy Spirit coming upon them is the indication that they believed. These 3 classes had this happen only one time in history. Today, the Holy Spirit still enters the newly created heart/soul (2 Corinthians 5:17) but without any outward manifestations.
God through the prophets predicted this (Isaiah 49:6).
V30 …since [there is] one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
There is only one God. There is no hierarchy of gods or any divine council of gods (Isaiah 45:21 also Isaiah 45:8, Isaiah 45:14-18 and James 2:19).
Faith, believing in God and His message, is the prerequisite for salvation regardless of whether one is a Jew (circumcised) or a Gentile (non-Jew and usually uncircumcised).
Salvation comes through faith in Jesus and His Gospel.
Wuest quotes Denney: “Paul says that rather than make God’s law of no effect, faith establishes it in its rightful place. Denney says: “Law is set upon secure footing; for the first time it gets its rights. To prove this was one of the main tasks lying upon the Apostle of the New Covenant. One species of proof is given in chapter 4 when he shows that representative saints under the Old Dispensation, like Abraham, were justified by faith. That is the divine order still, and is securer than ever under the gospel. Another kind of proof is given in chapters 6-8, where the new life of the Christian is unfolded, and we are shown that ’the just demands of the law’ are fulfilled in believers, and believers only. The claim which the Apostle makes here, and established in these two passages, is the same as that in our Lord’s words: “I came not to destroy (the law and the prophets), but to fulfill.”
V31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
The law is established in that it is proven correct—all are sinners and under God’s wrath.
(Holman Commentary) “…the law which shows people that they have failed in all points to be righteous, forcing them to the conclusion that they must accept righteousness as a free gift of God. The law says, “You have nothing to boast in and I can prove it!”— and then proceeds to name all the places in which we have failed morally. Therefore, the free “gift of God” (Rom. 6:23) is the only way that we can attain salvation, and it took the law to reveal it. Therefore, the law serves the gospel by removing all boasting about how one might be saved.”
We learn:
- The Mosaic law is good by revealing the sins of people. The Holy Spirit convicts.
- Faith is the condition for salvation.
- Faith is for both Jew and Gentile to be saved from God’s wrath.
Questions:
- Do you have faith in Jesus alone for salvation?
- Do you understand that no one can brag about their goodness?