The Flat Earth of Salvation Text: Romans 3:27-31
Introduction: The Death of Bragging Rights
The apostle Paul has just spent the better part of three chapters bringing all mankind into the courtroom of God and shutting every mouth. The polished Gentile philosopher, who worships the creature rather than the Creator, is guilty. The religious Jew, who boasts in the law but breaks it, is guilty. The whole world is under the righteous judgment of God. Paul has brought us all to the edge of the cliff. But just as we are peering into the abyss of condemnation, he unveils the breathtaking reality of justification by grace through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. It is a righteousness from God, apart from law, that is received, not achieved.
Now, having laid out this glorious doctrine, Paul anticipates the consequences. He is a master logician, and he knows that every great truth will have practical, earth-shattering implications. If salvation is a free gift, received by faith alone, then it must radically reorder our world. And in our text today, he deals with three of those consequences. First, it demolishes all human pride. Second, it demolishes all ethnic and religious pride. And third, it demolishes the slander that this gospel of free grace is an enemy of God's law. In short, the gospel creates a level playing field at the foot of the cross. It creates a flat earth of salvation where the only high ground belongs to God Almighty.
We live in an age that is obsessed with self-esteem, with building our personal brand, with curating an image of success. The world's religions are, at bottom, just different systems for accumulating spiritual bragging rights. You climb the ladder through your works, your meditation, your rituals, your obedience. And when you think you are doing well, you look down on those who are not. Paul comes into this marketplace of religious pride and overturns all the tables. He announces a salvation that cannot be earned, a righteousness that cannot be generated from within, and a God who justifies the ungodly. This is an offense to the proud, but it is life and peace to the humble.
The Text
Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that faith, is one.
Do we then abolish the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
(Romans 3:27-31 LSB)
Boasting is Locked Out (v. 27-28)
Paul begins with a sharp, rhetorical question that cuts to the heart of all human religion.
"Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." (Romans 3:27-28)
If salvation is a wage that we earn, then boasting is not only possible, it is appropriate. If I work a week and my boss pays me, I can take that paycheck with a sense of accomplishment. I earned it. But if I am destitute, bankrupt, and my boss simply gives me a million dollars out of sheer generosity, what room is there for boasting? I can only be grateful. Paul says the gospel of grace slams the door in the face of human pride. The word "excluded" is a strong one; it means to be shut out, locked out, with no possibility of re-entry. The bouncer of the gospel throws boasting out on the street.
By what principle or "law" is this accomplished? Not by a "law of works." A law of works is a system where you get what you deserve. If you perform, you are rewarded. If you fail, you are punished. Such a system will always produce pride in those who think they are succeeding and despair in those who know they are failing. But Paul says boasting is excluded by a "law of faith."
Now, we must be careful here. Paul is not saying that "faith" is our new work that we offer to God. He is not saying that God used to demand a hundred push-ups, but now He just demands one push-up called "faith," and if we do it, He is impressed. That would just re-introduce boasting through the back door. We would start bragging about the quality of our faith. No, the "law of faith" is a principle of receiving, not achieving. Faith, by its very nature, looks away from self and looks to another. Faith is the empty, outstretched hand that receives the free gift. The hand does not boast about its emptiness; it is simply the instrument by which the gift is received. As Paul says elsewhere, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Even the faith to believe is a gift. God provides the righteousness, and He provides the hand to receive it.
Therefore, Paul concludes with this thunderous declaration, the thesis of his entire letter: "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." This is the bedrock. Justification is a legal declaration from God that a sinner is righteous in His sight, and it is based entirely on the work of Christ, received by faith alone, with no contribution from our law-keeping whatsoever.
One God, One People, One Way (v. 29-30)
The second consequence of this gospel is that it creates one new humanity out of the divided factions of the old.
"Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that faith, is one." (Romans 3:29-30)
This was a radical, world-altering truth. For centuries, the dividing line of the world was between Jew and Gentile. The Jew had the covenants, the law, the temple, the promises. They were God's chosen people. The Gentiles were the outsiders, the unclean, the "dogs." And the temptation for the Jewish Christian was to think that salvation was still an essentially Jewish affair. A Gentile could get in, perhaps, but he had to come through the Jewish door. He had to get circumcised, keep the food laws, and basically become a Jew.
Paul demolishes this religious apartheid. He asks, is God some local, tribal deity? Is He just the God of one ethnic group? Of course not. The Shema, the central confession of Israel, declares, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). If there is only one God over all the earth, then He must be the God of all the peoples of the earth. And if there is only one God, there can only be one way of salvation for all people.
And what is that way? It is the same for everyone. God will "justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that faith." Notice the beautiful equality here. The Jew, with all his religious heritage, is saved by faith. The Gentile, with no religious heritage, is saved through the very same faith. The ground is utterly level. God does not have two different plans. He does not have a complicated plan for religious people and a simple plan for irreligious people. He has one plan for sinners, and that plan is Jesus Christ. All other ground is sinking sand. All ethnic pride, all cultural superiority, all religious snobbery is crucified here. In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, for all are one in Him (Galatians 3:28).
Establishing the Law (v. 31)
Now comes the final, and perhaps most surprising, point. Paul knows that his opponents are waiting in the wings, ready to pounce. They are saying, "Aha! If we are saved apart from the works of the law, then Paul is throwing out the Old Testament! He is an antinomian! He is preaching lawlessness!" Paul anticipates this charge and refutes it with a stunning claim.
"Do we then abolish the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law." (Genesis 3:31)
"May it never be!" This is Paul's strongest expression of revulsion. The thought is abhorrent to him. Far from nullifying the law, the doctrine of justification by faith is the only thing that truly establishes it, that gives it its proper place and honor. How is this so?
First, the gospel establishes the law by fulfilling its demands. The law demands perfect, lifelong obedience. We failed to provide it. But Christ, as our representative, provided it for us. He lived the perfect life the law required. The law also demands a penalty for disobedience: death. We owed this penalty. But Christ, as our substitute, paid it for us on the cross. So the gospel does not wave away the law's demands; it satisfies them completely in the person and work of Jesus. Jesus Himself said, "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" (Matthew 5:17).
Second, the gospel establishes the law by upholding its purpose. What was the purpose of the law? It was to be a mirror, to show us our sin (Romans 3:20). It was to be a schoolmaster, to drive us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). The law was never intended to be a ladder by which we climb to God. It was intended to be a sledgehammer that breaks our pride and shows us our need for a savior. When we come to God by faith alone, we are saying, "The law was right all along. I am a sinner. I cannot save myself. I need a righteousness from outside of me." That honors the law's true function.
And third, the gospel establishes the law by writing it on our hearts. When we are justified by faith, we are also born again by the Spirit. God gives us a new heart, a heart that desires to obey Him. The law is no longer an external list of rules that condemns us; it becomes an internal principle of life that guides us. We are saved apart from our obedience, but we are saved unto obedience. True, living faith is never alone; it is always accompanied by the fruit of good works. These works do not contribute one bit to our justification, but they are the necessary evidence of it. In this way, the faith that justifies is the same faith that sanctifies. And so, we establish the law, not by our own striving, but by the power of the Spirit working in us, all because of the glorious gospel of grace.
Conclusion
So where does this leave us? It leaves us on the great, glorious, flat plain of God's grace. There is no room for boasting in ourselves. There is no room for despising others. And there is no room for despising God's good and holy law. There is only room for one thing: boasting in the Lord.
As Paul says to the Corinthians, "so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord'" (1 Corinthians 1:29-31).
This is the great exchange. We give Him our sin, our failure, our bankruptcy. He gives us His perfect righteousness. We give Him our pride; He gives us His peace. We give Him our ethnic divisions; He gives us one family. We give Him our law-breaking; He gives us the law-keeper, Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. It excludes our boasting so that it might establish His. And our only proper response is to fall on our faces in humble, grateful adoration.