Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans.  Tonight is study #45 in Romans 3,  and we are continuing to read Romans 3:27-31:

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

We are continuing to discuss this whole idea of God’s salvation program.  This really gets to the essence of it, or the very heart of it.  When we consider what God is saying here and in other places in the Bible, we can only conclude that there is no Law that man can keep that could get him saved.  If there were such a Law, then he would be able to boast, or to glory.

This is the major reason why the gospel taught by the vast majority of congregations is in error, as they teach the idea of “accepting Christ,” and of “making a decision for Christ,” as one exercises his free will to accept Christ.  It is contrary to the Law of God.  It is contrary to the Bible, which is God’s Law book, and the Law of God will not allow it.   When a man goes that route and determines, “I am going to accept Christ,” then he places himself under the Law because God has commanded man to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  We looked at 1John 3:23:

And this is his commandment, That we should believe…

Once you have a commandment, you have a Law, and then if someone says, “I am going to keep that Law (whatever it is), and I will be justified and righteous in God’s sight through the keeping of that law of faith,” he has placed himself under the whole Law of God.  We see that if we go to Galatians 3, we will see how it ties into our upcoming study of Romans 4.  It says in Galatians 3:6-9:

Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Let me interrupt for a second to say that this is the same point God is making in Romans 3:29-30:

Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

It is all according to faith, whether of the Jew, or of the Gentile, and God will expand on this point in Romans 4 where we read in Romans 4:9-10:

Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

In other words, Abraham himself was not circumcised when faith was reckoned to him for righteousness.   And of course it was not his faith, but the faith of Christ.  And it goes on to say in Romans 4:11-13:

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Think of Christ here.  Christ is the essence of faith.  It is through the righteousness of Christ, as the Bible tells us in the next chapter, in Romans 5:19: “…so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”  That is, through Christ’s righteousness and His obedient action toward the Law of God in bearing the sins of His people, which He did by faith.  The work that was finished at the foundation of the world was Christ’s “work of faith.”

Going back to Galatians 3, we read in Galatians 3:9-10:

So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse…

Why?  It says in Galatians 2:16:

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law…

If you are not justified, you remain in your sin, and the curse of God is upon you.  So that man is “under the curse,” as it says in Galatians 3:10:

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

You see, if you place yourself under the Law, and if that is the way that you intend to get right with God (whether it be the keeping of the law of circumcision, the law of baptism, or the law of believing), then you must continue “in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”  And the book of the Law is the Bible.  You would have to obey every Law perfectly.  The Bible says in James 2:10: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” 

It goes on to say in Galatians 3:11:

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

Notice the similarity between Galatians 3:11 and Galatians 2:16.  Once again, it says in Galatians 2:16:

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ…

We are told in Galatians 2:16 whose faith it is that which justifies, saves, and is acceptable to God.  But in Galatians 3:11, it is not directly tied to the Lord Jesus, as it says in Galatians 3:11:

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

And therein man thinks he sees his opportunity, and he rushes in, saying, “It is my faith!  Lord, I believe.”  But, no, it is the faith of Christ, and that is true 100% of the time when the Bible is speaking of “saving faith.”  You and I can be absolutely certain that it is not our faith – it is not man’s faith because faith is a work, as it says in 1Thessalonians 1:3:

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith…in our Lord Jesus Christ…

If we take out the reference to “labour of love, and patience of hope,” that is how it would read.  It is your “work of faith,” because God commands it, and what is a work?  A work is any attempted act of obedience toward a command of God. 

Also, we read in 2Thessalonians 1:11:

Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:

Faith is a work.  Therefore man cannot become justified by doing a work of faith, in the sight of God.

Now you may be saying, “I am confused.”  If we go back to Romans 3, was not God’s whole point concerning faith was that it could be done, and it would rule out boasting, or glorying?  Again, it says in Romans 3:27:

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

And this is why some men say, “Then I will believe because this is God’s ‘law of faith,’ and it excludes boasting and glorying.”  But, no, that is their error.  And we have seen that men do boast.  They do glory in their “own faith” that they think got them saved.  That is a wrong conclusion.  Then what is the proper conclusion?  It goes on to say in Romans 3:28:

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Then it cannot be man’s faith because man’s faith is a deed of the law.  It is a work.  A work and a deed are the same thing, so that rules it out.  There is a “law of faith.”  It is in the Bible as God speaks of it, and yet it cannot be man’s faith.

So let us go back to Galatians 3:11:

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

This is very similar to what we read in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk because it is the same Gospel whether it is the Old Testament or New Testament.  Remember that Noah found “grace” in the eyes of the Lord, and we are told in Ephesians 2:9:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

If it were of us, then it would be a work, and we would not be saved by it.  Again, it is not of works, lest any man should boast.  It is Christ’s faith, and this is proved by Habakkuk 2:4:

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

This is the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Galatians 2:16 confirms that understanding: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ…”  His faith is what is in view.  That is the “law of faith.” 

Let us go, once again, to Romans 3, and we will move on to Romans 3:31:

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

This idea of making the law void has to do with making it of “no effect.”  So what God is really addressing here is the question that some critics might come up with, saying that men being justified by faith rather than the deeds of the law will make the law void, and of none effect.  We have heard people say that.  If you do not have to do anything, then people would not do any Law of God – they would not follow the Bible. 

So God says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid…”

The Greek translated as “God forbid” are the words  “mē,” (negation) and “ghin'-om-ahee.” The word “God” is not in the original Greek.  So literally, it is a very strong statement that could be translated “may it never be.”  Then it goes on to say, in Romans 3:31:

… yea, we establish the law.

So the “law of faith” is saying that the sinner is not saved by any of his work, or his response, to the Law of God, the Bible.  It has nothing to do with whether you can keep the Law regarding “belief,” or any other point of the Law.  That is an impossible path.  No one is justified in the sight of God by going down that road.

But the “law of faith” is that God has written about the Saviour who did all the work of salvation for a certain people, the elect of God that Christ died for, and He demonstrated His faith through His work of having born their sins, being slain by God, and then rising from the dead to justify them.  That is justification through faith alone, and Christ alone!  It is only through the work that He did because “faith without works is dead.”  He is the faith, and His work was that which accompanied and proved His faith.  That is the “law of faith” in the Bible that God provided for salvation.

And this does not make void the Law, nor make it of none effect.  Rather, it establishes the Law.  It makes the Law to stand.  The Greek word translated as “established” is often translated as “stand.”  It says in Romans 5:1-2:

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Notice that it says we have access by Christ, and then it says we have access by faith into this grace.  And that sounds like what we read in Romans 5.  Again, it says, “by faith into this grace wherein we stand…”   And the word “stand” is our word translated as “establish” in our verse in Romans 3:31.  You see, it is Christ’s faith that established the Law because He kept the Law perfectly.  There was perfect obedience, and perfect fulfillment.  He fulfilled all righteousness.  He did everything according to what had been written, so His work was all legal, just, right, holy, good, and upstanding in every possible way.  The work of faith performed by the Lord Jesus Christ for the sake of His chosen people fulfilled all the Law (perfectly).

One other Scripture that uses this same word translated as “establish” is in Romans 10:1-4:

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. or Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

You see, the Law was given so that every mouth would be stopped, and all the world would become guilty before God because “by the law is the knowledge of sin.”  And sin leads us to desperate beseeching of God as we pray, “O, Lord, have mercy upon me!”  Our transgression of the Law takes us to “the end of the law for righteousness,” which is Christ.  The Law has laid out a way of substitution by atonement through the Messiah.  And Christ followed the Law of God, and He accomplished that wonderful, merciful, gracious, and magnificent work of salvation for His people.