Romans 3:27-31

27: Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
28: For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
29: Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30: since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

31: Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

*** 

Was there anything for the Jewish believer to boast about? No. Why? Because their justification was not anything to be proud of. It didn’t come from a law based on works—being rewarded for something they’d done. It came through the law of faith. The principles of this law are that everyone is a sinner, and justification comes only through faith—believing in the plan God had in place all along to impute righteousness to those who believe in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.

Paul maintained that justification comes by faith, separately from the works of the Law. God is not just the God of the Jews, but the Gentiles also. The same God who justified the Jews through circumcision under the Law now justifies, not only the Jewish believer in Christ, but the uncircumcised believer through faith. Paul ended this thought by saying that the law per se had not been done away with by our faith but was established by it. Our faith brings about the very thing the Law was trying to accomplish—righteous deeds coming from a pure heart and soul—a willing and joyful obedience to the law of love.

Jesus Himself said He didn’t come to do away with the Law, but to fulfill it. He also said that all the commandments are summed up in the two—love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus came to provide a way for the hearts of men to be changed—cleansed and then filled with the Holy Spirit so their actions would be sincerely good—motive and all, from the inside out.



See also Matthew 5:17, Matthew 22:35-40, Galatians 5:14

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