Romans 3:27-31

Passage

Then where is boasting?  It was being excluded.  Through what kind of law?  By works?  No.  But through a law of faithfulness.  For we consider mankind to be declared righteous by faithfulness apart from works of the Law.  Is God only of the Jews?  Isn’t He also of the Gentiles?  Yes, He is also of the Gentiles.  After all, God is one – who will justify those of the circumcision out of faithfulness and those of the uncircumcision through the faithfulness.  Do we not cause the Law to cease to exist through faithfulness?  Let it not be so!  But we uphold the Law.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul continues to talk about faith/faithfulness in this passage.  It is important to remember that when Paul talks about being justified through faithfulness (or faith) that he isn’t talking about a human work.  My “ability” to believe in Jesus Christ is not what saves me.  Christ’s faithfulness on the cross and His death is what saves me.  After all, if my salvation is based on my “ability,” then it is simply a work that I perform.  If I cannot keep the Law perfectly, how can I perform any necessary work perfectly?  No, salvation cannot be through my works but through Christ’s work.

Why is it easy to translate God’s gift through Christ’s faithfulness into some work that I perform?  Why is it easy to believe that it is my ability to believe that saves me rather than Christ’s death on the cross that saves me?  Why do you think Paul spends so much time on this point?

Second Thought:

Paul makes his overarching point once again.  God is the God of the Jews and the Gentiles.  God will save both through the same means.  There isn’t a “Jewish way to God” and a “Christian way to God.”  The only way to God is through the atonement of sin and the only true and permanent atonement of sin is gained through Christ.  Every human being who has ever lived in any place upon the earth will be justified only through the blood of Christ.  There is no difference between Jew and Gentile.  All have sinned and all come to God only through Christ.

What does this demonstrate to you with respect to your need for Jesus?  Do you always live as though Jesus is the only way to God?  Do you truly believe that there is only one way to God – through Jesus Christ – regardless of who you are and what you’ve done?

Third Thought:

Paul’s final point in this passage is that it is not his intent to cause the Law to go away.  He does not desire that the Law be ignored.  He is in good company, for Jesus Himself even says, “I did not come to abolish the Law or the prophets but to fulfill them.”  Paul does not desire the Law to go away.  Rather, Paul desires that the Law have its proper place.  Salvation comes through the faithfulness of Christ on the cross.  The Law shows us why we need Christ and then guides us in how to live once He has found us.

Why is it important to keep the Law around?  What happens to a person who embraces grace so much that the Law becomes invalidated in that person’s life?

Passage for Tomorrow: Romans 4:1-3