We establish the Law

Romans 3:9-31 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; ¹⁰ as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one; ¹¹ There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God; ¹² All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” ¹³ “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; ¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; ¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood, ¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their paths, ¹⁷ And the path of peace they have not known.” ¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰ because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

²¹ But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶ for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ²⁸ For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

³¹ Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

“There is none righteous, not even one;  There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;  All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”      Many people would argue that this simply is not true. They would point to people of various faiths who do good works, people whose jobs or volunteer time are dedicated to serving people. There are many people who do good works. Doing good works though, does not make one righteous. Webster defines righteous as:   acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin.    There is no one who can fulfill that definition of righteousness on their own. Modern psychology’s answer to this deficiency in the human condition is to do away with guilt by justifying any and all actions, making everything either okay or someone else’s fault. This philosophy says that if we do away with God and if we do away with sin, then there is no reason for guilt and everyone can be justified in their own actions and feelings. The obvious problem with that philosophy is seen in the ever darkening and downward spiral of human morals and depravity. Those who promote this philosophy don’t like to admit it, but it is evident that each time our culture moves a moral line between right and wrong, there is a new grey area. The justification of one immoral activity becomes the standard by which the next, more immoral activity is defined, and on and on.

The text today says: … through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.   Man is unable to live without some authority, some form of law. There is either God’s Law or man’s laws. When human laws fail to change man we are left with two choices, we either change the law to adjust to the behavior or we create more laws in an attempt to correct the problems which are caused by the breaking of other laws. This constant changing and adjusting the laws does not lead to justice, it leads to confusion. God’s Law on the other hand never changes. God is the constant standard and measure of righteousness. Because man is unable to measure up to God’s standard, God did not lower or change His standard. Rather, as today’s text says because:   all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;  whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;  for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.    Because of the righteousness of God, He who is just also made a way that we could be justified. He didn’t change the law. He didn’t do away with the law. Jesus Himself says:   “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18) Jesus didn’t come to remove or “abolish” God’s standard of righteousness. He came so that through Him we could be justified. He fulfilled the requirement of righteousness for us.

More laws or changing is not the answer. Consider this from Prayers- Poems and Quotes:

When there was one law: From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. (Genesis 2:17) Adam and Eve violated the law.

When there were 10 commandments man could not abide by them.

There were 613 Levitical laws.  They laws could not change the behavior of men.

Today in this country there are so many laws, no one can number and list them all and we have more crime than ever before.

More laws don’t and won’t stop crime. It’s not a legal problem. It’s a problem with the heart of man. 

The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

The Solution:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Let’s try these two:

  “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39)

The heart of man cannot be changed no matter how many laws are written. Neither can the heart of man be changed by denying God, by ignoring His standard of righteousness. God is a God of order. From the beginning He created order out of disorder:   First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.  God spoke: “Light!” And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark.   God named the light Day,  He named the dark Night. (Genesis 1:1-5 MSG)  Because God is a God of order if we are to follow Jesus simplified version of the Law of God, we must do the first thing first. We must love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and mind. We must recognize that:  We love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) Our love for God is in response to His love for us.     God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) Our love of God is a response to the cross of Christ. Jesus says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:5) Only when we have fulfilled the first commandment Jesus gives can we begin to fulfill the second. If we love our neighbor apart from the love of God, apart from the righteousness of God with which we are justified in Christ, our love is imperfect and only as good as we ourselves.  

Today’s text ends:    By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith… Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.  

In faith, in response to the love of God demonstrated through the cross of Christ, may we establish and fulfill the law of faith, the law of love and grace.   Amen