Romans 3:31

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. DO WE THEN MAKE VOID THE LAW THROUGH FAITH? 'Does this doctrine of justification by faith, then, dissolve the obligation of the law? If so, it cannot be of God; but away with such a thought, for it does just the reverse.' GOD FORBID: YEA, WE ESTABLISH THE LAW. The reader should carefully observe, that, important as was this objection, and opening up as it did so noble a field for the illustration of the special glory of the Gospel, the apostle does no more here than indignantly repel it, intending at a subsequent stage of his argument (Romans 6:1) to resume and discuss it at length. Remarks: (1) It cannot be too much insisted on, that according to the doctrine of this Epistle throughout, and particularly of the present chapter,...

31._Do we then make, etc. _When the law is opposed to faith, the flesh immediately suspects that there is some contrariety, as though the one were adverse to the other: and this false notion prevails, especially among those who are imbued with wrong ideas as to the law, and leaving the promises, seek nothing else through it but the righteousness of works. And on this account, not only Paul, but our Lord himself, was evil spoken of by the Jews, as though in all his preaching he aimed at the abrogation of the law. Hence it was that he made this protest, — “I came not to undo, but to fulfill the law.” (Matthew 5:17.) And this suspicion regards the moral as well as the ceremonial law; for as the gospel has put an end to the Mosaic ceremonies, it is supposed to have a tendency to destroy the whole dispensation of Moses. And further, as it sweeps away all the righteousness of wo

27-31 God will have the great work of the justification and salvation of sinners carried on from first to last, so as to shut out boasting. Now, if we were saved by our own works, boasting would not be excluded. But the way of justification by faith for ever shuts out boasting. Yet believers are not left to be lawless; faith is a law, it is a working grace, wherever it is in truth. By faith, not in this matter an act of obedience, or a good work, but forming the relation between Christ and the sinner, which renders it proper that the believer should be pardoned and justified for the sake of the Saviour, and that the unbeliever who is not thus united or related to him, should remain under condemnation. The law is still of use to convince us of what is past, and to direct us for the future. Though we cannot be saved by it as a covenant, yet we own and submit to it, as a rule in the hand of...

Verse Romans 3:31. _DO WE THEN MAKE VOID THE LAW THROUGH FAITH?_] 1. By _law_ here we may understand the whole of the Mosaic law, in its _rites_ and _ceremonies_; of which Jesus Christ was the _subject_ and the _end_. All that law had respect to _him_; and the _doctrine_ of faith in Christ Jesus, which the Christian religion proclaimed, established the very claims and demands of that law, by showing that all was accomplished in the passion and death of Christ, for, _without shedding of blood_, the law would allow of _no remission_; and Jesus was that Lamb of God which was slain from the foundation of the world, in whose blood we have redemption, even the remission of sins. 2. We may understand, also, the _moral law_, that which relates to the regulation of the _manners_ or _conduct_ of men. This law also was _established_...

DO WE THEN MAKE VOID THE LAW - Do we render it vain and useless; do we destroy its moral obligation; and do we prevent obedience to it, by the doctrine of justification by faith? This was an objection which would naturally be made; and which has thousands of times been since made, that the doctrine of justification by faith tends to licentiousness. The word “law” here, I understand as referring to the moral law, and not merely to the Old Testament. This is evident from Romans 3:20, where the apostle shows that no man could be justified by deeds of law, by conformity with the moral law. See the note. GOD FORBID - By no means. Note, Romans 3:4. This is an explicit denial of any such tendency. Yea, we es

EXPOSITION ROMANS 3:1 (2) _Certain objections with regard to the Jews suggested and met. _In_ _this passage, before proceeding with his argument, the apostle meets certain objections that might be made to what has been so far said. Some difficulty in determining his exact meaning arises from the concise and pregnant form in which the objections are put and answered, and from fresh ones arising out of the answers, which have also to be met. The objections are from the Jewish standpoint, though not put into the mouth of an objecting Jew, but rather suggested as likely ones by St. Paul himself. To the original readers of the Epistle, who were familiar with the tone of Jewish thought, the sequence of the ideas would probably be more obvious than to us. Reserving special consideration of successive clauses for our exposition of each verse, we may,

DO WE THEN MAKE VOID THE LAW THROUGH FAITH?.... Which question is answered by way of detestatation, GOD FORBID! and by asserting the contrary, YEA, WE ESTABLISH THE LAW. The law is not made void, neither by the grace nor doctrine of faith: not by the grace of faith; for that faith is not right which is not attended with works of righteousness; and those works are not right which do not flow from filth. Such a connection there is between faith and works; and so much do the one depend upon the other. Moreover, none but believers are capable of performing good works aright, and they do them, and they ought to do them: besides, faith, as a grace, looks to Christ, as the end of the law for righteousness, and therefore do not make it void. Nor is it made void by the doctrine of faith, and by the particular doctrine of a sinner's justification by faith in Christ's righteousness, which is here...

Romans 3:1. _What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God._ It was a great thing to be a Jew in those old times. When all the rest of the world was in the dark, the Jews had the light: «Unto them were committed the oracles of God.» Romans 3:3. _For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?_ That is to say, if they did not believe God, did that make him untrue? Romans 3:4. God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou ar

DO WE THEN The sinner establishes the law in its right use and honour by confessing his guilt, and acknowledging that by it he is justly condemned. Christ, on the sinner's behalf, establishes the law by enduring its penalty, death. Compare (Matthew 5:17); (Matthew 5:18)....

3. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD REVEALED. Justification, what it is and what it Includes. Chapter 3:21-5:11. CHAPTER 3:21-31 _ 1. The Righteousness of God Manifested. (Romans 3:21 .)_ 2. Just and Justifier. (Romans 3:23 .) 3. Not of Works but of Faith. (Romans 3:27 .) Romans 3:21 And now God comes forward and manifests His righteousness. Romans 3:21 must be connected with Romans 1:17. As previously stated chapter 1:18-3.20 is a paren