READ: Rom. 3:27-31: Where is boasting then? It is excluded … the circumcised … and the uncircumcised … we establish the law.
No one can boast before God of themselves, or of their privileges, in order to stand before Him. That applies to both Jew and Gentile. The same can be said for our church membership. It has no value in itself if it is not accompanied by faith.
No, boasting is excluded as a means of being acceptable before God. Boasting is sinful because then God is not honored. Pointing to your own works encourages such sinful boasting.
Instead, there must be faith, whereby you turn away from yourself and expect everything only from Christ. If all is grace, then boasting is impossible. Whoever confesses that all is by faith alone and lives out of this understanding gives God the honor and praise due to Him.
Paul points out that justification by faith alone is connected with the universal salvation that applies to all people who come to faith. That applies not only to Jews but equally to Gentiles. Because it depends on faith in Christ, lineage and being circumcised or uncircumcised have no significance for your salvation.
Nor are the promises only for the circumcised. In Christ, all the families of the earth are blessed (Gen. 12:3). God is also the God of the Gentiles. With faith in Him and His Son there is acquittal for both (v.30).
Now that Paul rejects the law as a means to salvation, the question is rightly asked: is there then no role left for the law? If we consider faith as the only means to salvation, is the law thereby abolished? Paul’s answer is clear: absolutely not. The law is meant to expose our sins, so that we seek Christ. And the law is the rule for our gratitude concerning the grace we may receive in Christ. We will want to dedicate ourselves not only to some but to all of God’s commandments (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 44, Q&A 114).
Is our obedience to God’s law a ‘must’?
Sing: Hymn 24:7 (1984) / 28:7 (2014)