ROMANS 3:29-31 THE LAW ESTABLISHED There must have been Jews in the church at Rome who were thinking that being justified by faith wiped out everything Judaism taught. Does it cancel out the scriptures of the Old Testament? Does it mean the customs and practices of the Jews were of no value? Is God no linger working through Jews as a people? This question asked at the beginning of this chapter is answered. When we understand the truth that God in grace has provided salvation for Jews and Gentiles by Himself, and we are declared righteous by faith in Christ, then we "establish" the law.
God is One in His being to all people and is the same toward all people. Jews are justified by faith even though they have not kept the law of Moses. Gentiles are justified by their faith even though they didn't have the law. The commands of God written in the law were not established by the efforts of men to keep them. They were established by executing the penalty the law demanded. Attempts to adjust the demands of the law to a lower standard were exposed by the Lord Jesus when He explained what the demands of the law really meant. The shallow view of sin that people attach to it, and even the shallow ideas people have about God Himself, does not change God's view of the standard.
The attempts to meet the demands of righteousness by the law only exposes how ungodly we really are. Struggles to do better only reveal our inability to commend ourselves to God. When a sincere and honest person admits they are a failure in making him or herself righteous before God, then they can understand that God deals with us on the principle of faith - faith in the redeeming work of Christ alone. God justifies the ungodly who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because Christ was crucified for us. Christ died for our sins. He tasted death for every man. He was made a curse for us, that we might be made righteous before God in Him. His death for sin established the law by having sin's penalty executed upon Him.
Therefore, in no way have the demands of the law been overlooked. They have been solidly established because all the demands against the sinner have been executed to the full extent of the law. We are not justified by any works we do to make ourselves acceptable to God. God justifies us because of the fact that Christ shed His blood and gave His life for me. He has finished the work of satisfying the Righteous God by His death, burial and resurrection on my behalf. Now God doesn't see me as one who is trying to be righteous by my own efforts. God only sees me in the dead, buried and risen Savior. He can show His divine favor and blessing toward me because I am accepted in Christ. That acceptance is eternal. I have been given eternal life - His own kind of life.
So now I know that Christ is in heaven for me and I am accepted in Him because of His finished work of satisfying all of God's claims against me. God sees me in Christ. Also, the Holy Spirit is in me to reveal Christ to me, to guide me into the truth that I might obey God. I pray in the Spirit; I walk by the Spirit and the Spirit opens the scriptures to me and my heart to love saints and sinners as well as loving God. God sees the Spirit in me. This whole act of justifying me is done by God. He justifies me as a sinner, not as a saint. My works don't make it happen or add anything to it, and my failures even as a Christian, does not take it away, or even decrease its value in any way. It is God that justifies - and establishes the law.
These who gather here in the presence of the Lord - What claim can they possibly have that makes them welcome here?
They have received assurance from the pages of God's Word - They have been justified by faith and their past is completely clear.
The law of ancient Israel condemned us every one - How can they get around the fact that everyone has sinned? A remarkable work has been completed when God laid upon His Son - Their sins and through Him and with Him they died and rose again.
But the efforts of our culture, our striving to be accepted - Don't these count for anything, are they not added to the price? The works of man fall far short of God, He knows we've all neglected - To fulfill righteousness that is demanded, so sin is never paid for twice.
On what basis then can I ever be accepted by God - For every single day I live, I sin in word and deed? The righteousness of Christ is pure, and by His death He established the law - For it was executed in its fullness when He for us did bleed.
The works we do and our sincerity won't establish for us a way - That God can look upon us and declare us justified? No, the way the law is established is there is a price to pay - And when the laws are fully executed, the guilty one must die.
If Christ has died for me and borne away all my sins And paid that penalty, am I then righteously counted to be free? Yes, the blessings of forgiveness and the fact that we are justified by Him Who God could look upon with favor - and so justify me.
"Lord God, my Father, I hope I have gotten these truths right and clearly defined in my mind. I am finding great joy in following this path of love and logic to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. His justifying work when He was the propitiation for me by His blood, is still, and always will be, the basis of my assurance and faith. I praise Thee and thank Thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."