Questions Arising From Justification by Faith - Romans 3:27-31

Introduction to Romans 3:27-31

We have seen the most important passage in the Bible regarding how God can both declare guilty sinners righteous and be righteous in doing so. God gives his righteousness to sinful men without any works on the part of man.

We have seen that even man’s righteous deeds are regarded as filthy rags.

God’s righteousness is available freely for all human beings because we are all sinners who have fallen short of God’s glory.

God’s righteousness is accessed by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, who alone paid the ransom for sin by shedding his blood on the cross in order to deliver mankind out of slavery to sin, and in doing so appeased the wrath that God has towards rebellious sinners.

God is not just closing one eye or two eyes when He declares sinners righteous, because there was a tremendous cost paid to redeem us from our sins.

In fact, it is the costliest price that the Godhead themselves paid because it is a price that no human being, regardless of how wealthy he is, can even begin to afford to pay.

We must never lose sight of what it cost God to purchase our redemption. And we must remember that God didn’t have to do it at all.

He has absolutely no obligation to save anyone and would be perfectly righteous to sentence everyone to eternal separation from Him.

What Paul is going to do in the next paragraph is to ask, and answer, a series of three questions.

With the first word, “then,” the questions that arise in the readers’ mind and the answers given all link back to what Paul has already described in 3:21-26, specifically that justification comes by faith alone in Christ alone.

So what we see is actually the implications and arguments for justification by faith.

The main theme of this passage (Romans 3:27-31) is going to lead us into ch. 4 where we will address Questions Arising From Justification by Faith.

I. Justification By Faith Alone Means We Cannot Boast (Romans 3:27-28)

A. The Object of Our Boast

When it comes to this matter of boasting, 35 out of 37 times this word appears in the NT, Paul is the one who uses it.

The first occurrence of this Greek word is back in 2:17, the Jews were described as people who “boast in God.”

I mentioned previously that not all boasting is wrong as Jer 9:23-24 tells us, “Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

Paul actually quotes the Jer passage twice, in 1 Cor 1:31, “As it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” And in 2 Cor 10:17, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

So the object of our boast will determine whether it is right or wrong.

If we boast in ourselves, that is a manifestation of pride and self-sufficiency, and is therefore wrong. It is also an unloving attitude as Paul says in 1 Cor 13:4, “love does not boast.”

On the other hand, if we boast in God, we come with thanksgiving and adoration, and since God is glorified, that kind of boasting is right.

So when we come to this passage, what kind of boasting is Paul referring to?

The clue is in the answer that Paul gives: It is excluded. Paul is not referring to boasting about God then.

He is referring to our boasting about ourselves.

Then he contrasts the law of works with the law of faith, and clearly shows us that He is talking about boasting in our works to contribute to our justification.

B. The Jews Boasted in the Law

You see that Paul is addressing Jewish pride when the follow-up question asks, “By what kind of law?” We may be puzzled by this follow-up question.

But Paul is clearly addressing the Jews because it is the Jews to whom God gave the law. In so doing, God established a special relationship with these people. It is tempting to take pride in the covenant relationship that the Jews have with God.

However, the Jews are not the only group of people susceptible to boasting about their own distinctiveness.

We see in 1 Cor 1 that the Greeks boast in their wisdom.

Think about the numerous philosophers that they have produced.

Singaporeans can boast in their prosperity and political stability and incorruptibility. Christians, too, can boast in how good they are rather than in the grace of God.

When it comes to boasting in the Law, Paul contrasts between the law of works and the law of faith.

When it comes to the law of works, it is tempting to boast in how one has kept the law, and therefore, use that as the reason God should justify this individual. In any case, Paul says in 2:23, “You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.”

If justification could be attained by works of the law, then nobody would make it since all have broken the law.

C. The Law of Faith Apart from Works

But if we are talking about the law of faith, then faith alone is the basis for our justification, apart from works of the law.

In v. 28 Paul explains what the law of faith is all about. One justified by faith apart from works of the law.

That is what Paul also said earlier in v. 20 For by works of the law no human beings will be justified in His sight. V. 21 But now God’s righteousness has been manifested apart from the law.

The way the reformers phrased it was:

Faith alone (Sola fide). “No works, whatever their nature or their motivation, can play any part in making a sinner right with God” (Moo).

Rather, v. 22 the righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. The redemption through Christ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood is to be received by faith (v. 25).

Therefore, all boasting is excluded, as Paul also says in Eph 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Later on in 4:2 Paul would use Abraham as a central illustration: “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.”

It seems like the fairest way in this world to assess people is through their performance, through their merit. That is why it is understandable when people say that it makes them feel good that they can contribute something to their salvation; it does give a person a sense of accomplishment and achievement.

But God does not assess a person by his merits.

Perhaps that is where the potential hindrance is.

People respond with, “That’s too good to be true! Nothing in life is free! If something is worth having, we have to work hard to earn it.” But the fact is, the best thing in life is truly free to us, but as we have seen last week, it is costly to God.

Not only does our merit have nothing to contribute to our justification, on the other hand, God loves to save the foulest of sinners.

Think about the testimony of the man who wrote this book.

He was a killer of Christians. He is the last person whom you think God would save, but this was the very one God saved and then used to bring sinners to repentance through the preaching of the gospel. That is why every soul who turns to Christ is a trophy of God’s grace.

Application

Imagine if our justification is achieved by our works. It actually diminishes the finished work of Christ on the cross. Our work takes away from His work.

Our confidence in ourselves takes away our confidence in Christ. And at the end of the day it diminishes our worship of Jesus.

As long as we are able to contribute something to our salvation, we will not regard Jesus as highly as we ought to.

We will not say He must increase and I must decrease. We will not need to be as thankful as we ought if we are helpless and hopeless on our own.

All it does is increase our pride and self-sufficiency.

II. Justification by Faith Alone Means Both Jews and Gentiles are Justified the Same Way (Romans 3:29-30)

With all the discussion about the law and the Jewish people’s relationship to it, it is no wonder someone may have a second question: Is God then the God of the Jews only?

After all, it is the Jews who are under the law, as we have seen in Rom 2 and 3.

Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? And very quickly Paul answers that question,

Yes, He is indeed the God of the Gentiles.

A. Because God is One

Then in v. 30, Paul gives the reason why God is both the God of the Jews and the Gentiles. It is because God is one. What does it mean that God is one?

We are reminded back in Deut 6:4, this great declaration, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” This is a very clear Biblical defence of monotheism, the conviction that there is only one God.

Zech 14:9 also supports this teaching that there is only one God: “And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.”

What Paul does is take a fundamental Jewish conviction that there is only one God and turn it against Judaism. If there is only one God in this world, then God must also be the God of the Gentiles; if not, they would have no God.

Now, the Jews would not disagree with that.

But for the Jews, while God is also a God of the Gentiles, it is the Jews who enjoy a special relationship with God by virtue of His covenant with them. This is how a later Jewish rabbinical text expressed it: “I am God over all that came into the world, but I have joined my name only with you [Israel]; I am not called the God of the idolaters, but the God of Israel.”

B. Because the Dividing Wall of the Law is Broken Down

It is by observing the Jewish laws that a Gentile has any hope of having the same kind of relationship with God as a Jew does.

By what Paul says here, the law is no longer the dividing wall separating the Jews from the Gentiles. There is no such barrier under the New Covenant.

To have access to this one true God, it is not through the keeping of the law, but rather one’s access to God, whether he be a Jew or a Gentile, is by faith through Christ.

In Eph 2:11-22, Paul would explain this further.

Vv. 11-12 describe the status of the Gentiles, they are called the uncircumcised (v. 11), they were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (v. 12).

But notice what the redemptive work of Christ achieved from v. 13.

Gentiles who once were afar off were brought near by His blood. Isaiah actually predicted that the day would come when God will say, Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal him” (Is 57:19).

He became our peace and broke down the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles by abolishing the law of commandments.

The wall is a figurative term describing the law. And it is a wall of hostility.

There is deep and bitter hatred in the Jews for the Gentiles. Think about God calling Jonah to evangelize the Ninevites. He refused to do so because of the hostility he had for these Gentile enemies.

That wall of hostility was broken down when Jesus abolished the law of commandments by perfectly fulfilling it Himself. He perfectly fulfilled the moral law. The part that was abolished was the ceremonial law. By doing so, he reconciles the two groups: Jews and Gentiles as one new man. This has reference to the body of Christ.

That is why God will declare righteous, whether this person be circumcised, referring to a Jew, or uncircumcised, referring to a Gentile. The way by which these two groups of people will be declared righteous is the same: by grace, through faith.

Application

There ought never be any kind of invisible dividing wall in the church. When we were in the book of James, we talked about how we ought to show no partiality as we hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are people from all walks of life who come to this church, from different nationalities and backgrounds and different ages.

Perhaps you might feel drawn to certain people because you speak the same language or share a similar home culture, but I would encourage everybody to step out of their comfort zone to reach out to others and get to know them.

Talk to someone in church whom you have never talked to before. Someone said that church is not an event you attend but a family you belong to.

The theological implication when you do that is to show the world that God is the God of people from everywhere.

III. Justification By Faith Alone Does Not Mean We Can Overthrow the Law (Romans 3:31)

This last question would be a natural one for a person to ask. Since the law is no longer a barrier between Jews and Gentiles, since the wall of hostility is broken down by the abolishing of the law of the commandment, and since justification is attained by faith alone, do we then overthrow the law by this faith?

A. Logical Sense, But Beyond Biblical Bounds

That would make logical sense from a human point of reasoning. But this logic has gone beyond Biblical bounds! That is why you see Paul use the phrase “by no means!” He has already used this phrase twice earlier in this chapter in vv. 4, 6.

Back in v. 3 Do the faithlessness of the Jews nullify the faithfulness of God?

That seems logical.

Why would God continue to be faithful to a people who continue to break His laws? But while that sounds logical, it has gone beyond biblical bounds.

God is a faithful God regardless of whether man is faithful or not. You can always count on God’s faithfulness.

Then in v. 5, if our unrighteousness serves to show God’s own righteousness, then God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us. That sounds logical too.

But it has gone beyond biblical bounds, for then how could God judge the world?

So too here, if the works of the law do nothing to contribute to our salvation then what is the use of the law? It seems that faith has overthrown the law.

B. The Role of the Law

The law plays no part in our justification, but it does have an important role to play.

The question is, what role does it play?

Paul actually doesn’t tell us here. But later on in 8:4 he says, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

In other words, Paul is saying that it is right for God to make demands of his people through the law, and God must hold people to that standard of holiness, he cannot simply close an eye or two.

The way that problem is solved is that Christ perfectly fulfilled the law on our behalf.

Therefore, we who are in Christ are accounted as having fulfilled the law and are then released from its penalties. “It is, paradoxically, this very freedom from the law’s condemnation that puts us into a relationship in which true obedience, motivated and directed by the Spirit, can come about” (Moo).

Application

The only way we can keep the law is after we have been justified through faith in Christ. Before that, we are utterly unable to do so. But after we have put our faith in Christ, then God gives us His Holy Spirit to supernaturally enable us to obey God.

Conclusion

Notice the flow of the three questions.

It starts by asserting that justification is apart from works of the law, but it is all of faith in Christ Jesus. And that that is the one and only way by which God, who alone is the only one true God, justifies sinners regardless of whether they are Jews and Gentiles.

But rather than doing away with the moral law, we uphold it because it is justification by faith in Christ alone that enables us to finally be able to keep the law.

So we do come full circle.

At the end of the day, the doctrine of justification by faith alone is not merely a theoretical thing, but it enables us to live out the gospel-centered life.

For Personal Reflection

1. What other disastrous implications can you think of if our works can contribute to our justification?

2. How can we practically reflect the truth that God is one in our relationship with one another in the church?

3. How does the doctrine of justification by faith enable us to live out the gospel-centered life?