Why Are We Justified by Faith?

We’re working our way through one of Paul’s most spectacular pieces of writing – namely, Romans 3:21-31. Here Paul has announced that God’s very own righteousness has been revealed. In other words, God has demonstrated his unshakable plan and purpose to set all creation right again. This great rescue has been implemented through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah. He is genuine human being, the faithful king of Israel, who will not only redeem Israel but bring blessing to all the nations as well.

In verses 25 and 26, Paul specifically shows how God’s righteousness is revealed through the death of Jesus. God’s justice demands that sin must be punished. This punishment was poured out upon Jesus on the cross, so that those who trust in his faithfulness can be set right with God.

Here is where things get tricky. In verse 27, Paul asks “So what happens to boasting?”  Most Christians reading this verse assume that Paul is referring to anyone in general boasting of their own good behavior in order to thereby achieve right standing before God.  But that is simply not the case.  Paul has very explicitly explained what he means by “boasting” in Romans 2:17-23. In that passage, it’s crucial to note that Paul is exclusively talking about the Jews. Even though the Jews had been called as God’s people and given the gift of Torah, they had forfeited the right to boast because they had failed to keep the law.  “If you boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? This is what the Bible says: ‘Because of you, God’s name is blasphemed among the nations!”  Therefore, we must recognize that when Paul is talking about “boasting,” he’s referring only to Israel “in the flesh.” 

Paul goes on: “So what happens to boasting?  It is ruled out!  Through what sort of law? The law of works?  No, but through the law of faith!  For we calculate that a person is justified by faith, apart from works of the law.”  We have now arrived at one of those crucial moments where Paul very clearly states that our justification – our right standing before God – comes through faith, not by works.  I hope we are now ready to fully grasp what Paul is truly saying.  We know that “boasting” is not the generalized boast of anyone who hopes to obtain right standing through good conduct.  It is specifically the boast of the Jew.  The Jews were the only ones who had been given the Torah. But now, Paul says, the boast of the Jew is ruled out. Stuck “in the flesh,” Israel hadn’t been able to live up to the law’s requirements. They were – like the rest of humankind – sinful and rebellious.

So justification cannot come through works of the law, for two reasons.  1) Gentiles could never be justified through the Torah because they were never given the Torah. 2) Jews could never be justified through “works of the law” because they were “in the flesh.”  Please note yet again that “works of the law” is not a phrase denoting human behavior in general.  It is always Paul’s way of referring to Israel’s efforts to keep the Torah; efforts which were doomed to failure by their fleshly status. Paul then announces that the boast of the Jew is now nullified through “the law of faith.”  You might even translate this as “the Torah of faith.”  To many Christians, this might sound like a contradiction in terms!  Aren’t “the law” and “faith” complete opposites?  But for Paul it makes perfect sense.  For God’s people, the children of Israel, had always been defined by the Torah.  The Torah marked them out as different from all the other nations (especially by “works of the Torah” such as circumcision).  But now Jesus had come! Jesus was the Messiah, the true king of Israel.  The people of God are no longer marked out by the Torah, but by their loyalty to Jesus. Israel itself has been redefined.  Israel is no longer composed of ethnic Jews, but by anyone of any nationality who gives their allegiance to Jesus the Messiah. 

Many Christians believe that Paul’s purpose in declaring “justification by faith, apart from works of the law” is to show that salvation must come about by abandoning any effort on our part in favor of simple trust or belief in Jesus.  But it must be said as clearly as possible: this is not the point Paul is making here!  For Paul, the whole point of “justification by faith” is to announce that right standing before God is now available to all people, not simply to Jews.  The knock-down proof of this claim comes in Paul’s very next sentence: “Or does God only belong to Jews? Doesn’t he belong to the nations as well?  Yes, of course, to the nations as well since God is one.  He will justify the circumcised (the Jews) by faith and the uncircumcised (non-Jews or Gentiles) through the same faith.” (3:29-30) This is a dramatic and crucial moment! Paul is clearly explaining why justification could not have come through “works of the Torah.”  Because if that were the case, then justification would be available only to the Jews!  But God is the one true God who created and loves all people.  His loving purposes could never have been limited to ethnic Israel alone.  If Paul had at this point intended to encourage his readers to abandon their moral efforts and trust Jesus instead, he hasn’t communicated that very well. In fact, he hasn’t said anything about it at all!

Paul’s final comment further confirms our interpretation. He asks, “Do we abolish the law through faith?” At this point, those Christians who interpret “justification by faith” as “trusting Jesus versus pursuing your own efforts through works” have a real problem. They are eager to proclaim, “Yes! The law has been abolished! Your efforts are futile; a spiritual dead-end!” Paul’s answer, however, is emphatically the opposite: “Certainly not! Rather, we establish the law.” What in the world does he mean by that? Well, the Torah was the code of conduct for God’s people. It commanded them to love the LORD their God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. It required that they love their neighbor as themselves. Such behavior is no less essential for God’s people in Christ. The key difference is that those who have given their full devotion to Jesus the Messiah have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. As Paul emphasizes in Romans 8:9: “You’re not people of flesh; your’re people of the Spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit lives within you.” So even though there is a real sense in which we have left the Torah behind, the Spirit-empowered transformation of our conduct is the fulfillment of the Torah. At long last, the Spirit allows Christians to become genuine human beings, bearing the image of God, just as the Torah intended.

We’ve now succeeded in working our way through Romans 3:21-31, where Paul has announced that justification is by faith, not by works of the law.  I hope that you’ve absorbed the main point Paul is stressing throughout this passage: because justification comes through loyalty to Jesus the Messiah (faith), all people – not just ethnic Jews – are now welcomed into the family of God. In fact, we can broaden this out and make the following observation: in those passages in which Paul is talking about “justification by faith,” his main subject is the welcome of Gentiles into the family of God. I realize that many Christians are not at all accustomed to thinking about justification by faith in this way. Hopefully this blog will help you see things more clearly – and more biblically.

This is such an important passage, I think it might be helpful to summarize the key principles we’ve learned over the last two weeks.

1. Paul’s main assertion in Romans 3:21-31 is that the time has now come for God’s rescue plan to reach out beyond the confines of ethnic Israel in order to bless all people and all nations.
2. All people – not just Jews – can now be justified; that is, they can be set right before God, forgiven of their sins, welcomed into the covenant family of God, and filled with his Holy Spirit.
3. This justification comes when people put their faith in Jesus. Such faith includes the idea that we believe certain key facts about Jesus. (For instance, we recognize that Jesus is the one and only Son of God who died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, etc.) However, true Pauline faith goes far beyond mere mental agreement to include the crucial notion that we must give our full allegiance and loyalty to Jesus as the world’s true Lord and King.
4. Such faith absolutely requires a re-orientation, not just of our thoughts and beliefs, but our behavior and conduct.
5. Justification no longer involves works of Torah. Before the coming of the Messiah, membership in God’s family was limited to ethnic Israel marked out by Torah. Yet God is the God of all the earth. He created all nations and all peoples. His gracious purposes were never meant to be limited to Israel alone.
6. Thus, Paul’s entire purpose in teaching “justification by faith, not by works of Torah” is to demonstrate that membership in God’s family is now available to everyone.
7. The contrast between faith and works has nothing to do with simple trust or belief in Jesus versus “the things we do.” Behavior is still essential. But now the people of Jesus are equipped by his Spirit and enabled to live in a way that is pleasing to God.
8. Even though we have left the Torah behind, the Spirit led transformation of our conduct is the fulfillment of the Torah. At long last, the Spirit allows Christians to become the true human beings that the Torah intended.