Two studies back, we saw that in the final paragraph of Romans 3 (vv. 27-31), it contains three conclusions from or implications of the gospel. They may be expressed by saying that the doctrine of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ: (1) Excludes boasting (vv. 27-28), (2) Establishes one way of salvation for everybody (vv. 29-30), and (3) Upholds the law of God rather than subverting it, as some seem always to suppose it does (v. 31).

The last of these points (v. 31) is an answer to a false conclusion or erroneous implication that some people, particularly religious people, might draw from the gospel. Paul has spoken forcefully about salvation by grace apart from law. He has repeated the idea of salvation being apart from law twice, once in verse 21 (“apart from law”) and once in verse 28 (“apart from observing the law”). “Well then,” such a person might argue, “if salvation is apart from the law, as you say, doesn’t the doctrine of salvation by grace set God’s law aside and thus show it to be worthless? And if it does that, shouldn’t your gospel be rejected as being quite false? Aren’t we obliged to reject any doctrine that would nullify the revealed law of God?”

Paul’s reply is that the gospel of grace does not nullify God’s law. God forbid that it should! If it did that, it would be a false gospel, one rightly to be rejected. But it does not nullify the law of God. On the contrary, it establishes the law and is, in fact, the only thing that does or could establish it.

There are two ways in which this objection to the gospel may be raised. The first is: “If we don’t have to keep the law of God in order to be saved, why should any of us want to keep it? If we are saved by grace apart from obeying the law, we must be free to sin. So let’s all sin. Let’s indulge ourselves by doing any and every sinful thing we want to do – because, after all, we will get to heaven anyway.” It shouldn’t be too difficult to see what is wrong with this argument. It’s wrong psychologically, if for no other reason. It assumes that the only motivation for right moral conduct is fear of hell or of losing heaven, when actually those are the least significant motivations. The highest motivation for godly conduct comes not from fear of hell but from love of God. It’s because God has saved us by grace entirely apart from any merit in ourselves that we love and want to please Him. Moreover, we recognize the importance of what we have become a part of by God’s grace – the kingdom of God on earth – and we want to advance the goals of that kingdom.

The second error is theological. It’s the false assumption that when a person is justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, he or she is personally unchanged by that process. Or, to put it in other terms, it is to suppose that one can be justified without being regenerated or born again. Actually, the one effect never occurs without the other. So the one who is justified always shows it by striving for righteousness. If a person does not strive to live a moral life according to the law of God, the failure proves that he or she is neither regenerated nor justified.

The theme of Romans 3:21-31 is not sanctification (important as that is) but justification, which is achieved for us by the work of Christ. So it’s not that the law is upheld by “our faith” in the sense that we inevitably live moral lives if we are living by faith, true as that is, but that the “faith” Paul is describing – that is, the doctrine of justification by grace through faith – upholds the law. This is so important let me state it in a different way. The point is not that the law is somehow established by what we do as Christians by the power of the new life of God within. It is rather that the Lord Jesus Christ has established the law in the process of providing salvation for us by His death on the cross. Or, to put it in still other language, God has established the law by seeing that the demands of the law were met in the way He provided salvation for us.

We have now come to the end of the most important single passage in the Word of God. Romans 3:21-31 is the very heart of the Bible, the most important and critical passage in all Scripture. To review, there are four great doctrines: (1) God has provided a righteousness of His own for men and women, a righteousness we do not possess ourselves. This is the very heart or theme of the Word of God. (2) This righteousness is by grace. We don’t deserve it. In fact, we are incapable ever of deserving it. (3) It is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in dying for His people, redeeming them from their sin, which has made this grace on God’s part possible. Redemption describes the work of Jesus Christ in relation to ourselves; propitiation describes the work of Jesus Christ in relation to the Father; justification describes the act by which God the Father declares us to have met the demands of the law on the basis of Christ’s work for us. It is because of Jesus’ death that there is a Christian gospel. (4) This righteousness, which God has graciously provided, becomes ours through simple faith. Believing and trusting God in regard to the work of Jesus is the only way anyone, whether Jew or Gentile, can be saved. Faith is essential. “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” (Heb. 11:6).

The important point is: Have you been saved by what is described in these doctrines? Have you been saved from your sin by Jesus Christ? Do you know that He died in your place to bear the punishment for your sin and offer you, in its place, His own perfect righteousness? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?

We live in a day – perhaps every age has been like this – when people are trying their best to establish other “gospels,” other ways of salvation. Some are into good works, some into yoga or reincarnations or crystals or something else. But the Bible’s gospel is not a human gospel, as those all are. The Bible is God’s Word, and this is God’s gospel. It is the only true gospel. It is the only way in which a sinful man or woman can be saved. But, praise God, it is the way by which man or woman may be saved – yourself included. Believe it, and thank God for it!

Romans 3:31 Reflection Questions:

In verse 31 Paul says that the law is not abolished. Rather, he says that the law cannot be fulfilled by works. Instead it is fulfilled by faith. How does reliance on the law of faith instead of the law of works put Jews and Gentiles on the same footing before God?

This passage explains the very foundation of the Christian faith. How could you take these verses and restate them in a way that would communicate the message of Christ to people around you who do not know Him?

Spend several minutes thanking God for His act of mercy in fulfilling the law through Christ and providing a way for all those who have faith in Jesus to be members of the new covenant family. Then pray for one friend who does not know Jesus. Pray that God would give you opportunities to communicate the message of the gospel in relevant ways.