Castlebar Christian Fellowship

Boasting excluded!

Reading: Romans 3:27-31.

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith.
28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.



Introduction:

Last week we looked at some of the central meaning of the Gospel; the fact that Christ died for our sins. (Romans 3:21-26.) We explored some of the key words (and their background pictures) that Paul used to explain the cross, namely, Justification, Redemption and Propitiation. Justification is a court room scene. It tells of a not-guilty verdict from the Judge. In other words the accused is acquitted.
Redemption can be pictured as a slave market scene where a price is paid so that the slave is liberated and set free.
Propitiation is a sacrifice scene from the Temple in Jerusalem. The blood of an unblemished animal, from the herd or the flock, has been offered in sacrifice as a means of atonement
At the cross the offender is acquitted, declared not guilty and looked upon righteous in the sight of God. At the cross the slave is set free by the great price paid. At the cross the wrath of God against sin is poured out on the sinless Son of God and our sins are atoned for.
Romans 3:24-25a. We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.
We thought about how all this great salvation flows from the sheer generosity of God. We could never make ourselves right in the sight of God. As Paul says elsewhere, Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15.

In today's reading Paul outlines some of the conclusions to be drawn from his message on the Gospel of grace.
---000O000---
First heading,
By 'faith alone', for all. (VV27-28)

The first conclusion is that, as regarding our salvation, there is no room for boasting in human achievement or merit whatever.
There is no room for self-congratulation. Paul opens with the question,
V27 Where, then, is boasting? ( "What room then is left for human pride?" NEB) Boasting is the visible symptom of the heart's pride.
Where, then, is boasting? He immediately gives a very decisive answer,
It is excluded. ("It is shut out once for all.") He then lets the question come back to him. On what basis do you make that assertion?
On what principle? On that of observing the law? I believe that Paul is describing here the human and religious endeavour of 'Law Keeping'; seeking to observe the Law of Moses in order to be saved or remain in God's favour.
In that case, keeping the law would not exclude boasting. Man in his religiosity likes to think that there is some room for merit in who he is or in what he does. As somebody pointed out, "If heaven were to be a place where we go because of our meritorious good works, we would turn it into hell by going around - as we surely would - boasting of all we did to get there." Alan F. Johnson

I believe Paul is again showing us that all attempts at law keeping, with the aim to make ourselves right with God, are useless. As he has reminded us in v21-22 (NLT) But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, …22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
We see from scripture that works are important but they do not merit salvation. They express the results of salvation but they are never the cause of salvation.
Only the principle of faith excludes boasting. It is not what a man doe that matters. It is faith alone that matters and it is by faith alone that we are justified. (Made right with God)
V28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
A man is justified by faith, apart from the law (V21) and I think it's important to really underline here, A man is justified by faith, apart from anything else also that we consider to have value or advantage! Anything we consider of merit does not contribute one iota to our justification.) (Sola Fide!)
In V28 Paul says, a man is justified by faith.
The Greek word for man is anthro?pos anth'-ro-pos

That is, a human being: man. "A man is any member of the human race; the term is quite general.
Justification is brought about in the same way for all, by faith." (Morris) 1 Timothy 2:4. God our Saviour, --- wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Remember the song of Simeon, when he took (the child Jesus) in his arms and praised God, saying:
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.
Luke 2:29-32. Luke reminds us that the Gospel is for all people.
V28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
Paul places faith and works of the law (ie. observing the law) as direct opposites. He sees the way of faith as being in sharp contrast to attempts at gaining right standing with God through keeping the Law of Moses. They are totally different; one is based on achieving and the other is based on believing.
Looking at the various commentaries on what is meant by faith, in this instance, they seem to come up with the same sort of thing. "The specific quality of faith is trust and commitment to another… Faith is self-renouncing; works are self-congratulatory. Faith looks at what God does; works have respect to what we are." (John Murray)
One old commentary reminds us, "faith is a depending, self-emptying, self-denying grace, and casts every crown before the throne: therefore it is most for God's glory that we should thus be justified." (Henry & Scott)
This faith is not a general sort of faith that sometimes receives the praise of man, as in, "It doesn't really matter what you believe as long as you believe something." (Fair play to ya!)
Paul is describing a saving faith focussed in Jesus and all that he has done on our behalf. (E.g. V26 God is the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.)

And if we begin to pride ourselves on our faith we're reminded that faith also is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8-9.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.
As somebody put it so well,

"To understand what grace and faith mean is to reject the way of pride and boasting" (Leon Morris)

Not only is this for the man of faith but it's for every man of faith because there is,

One God who is over all (VV29-30)
V29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
The second conclusion, already hinted at, is that this message is for everybody. We forget what a major new thing it was that the Gentile world was being reached with the Gospel. It was a source of amazement to the Jews. Remember what happened when Peter preached to the Roman centurion Cornelius and his household. Acts 10:44-45 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.
It was also a source of wonder to the Gentiles. Acts 13:45-48.
When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'
48When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honoured the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

V29 It can be translated,("Does God belong to Jews only? TTNT).

You know, we can say the words our God in the humble and thankful recognition that we belong to God and are in his care or we can say our God in the sense that we somehow subconsciously believe we own God and have some sort of exclusive rights regarding him. This sort of thinking was one of the problems of the Jews. Its extreme example was found in the begrudging Jonah! (It can happen to any group of people!) In the gospel only one way of being put right with God is revealed. Jews and Gentiles alike are in the same predicament and the same remedy is offered to both.

V30. since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. The opening line of the frequently repeated Jewish prayer, the Shema, found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 reads, Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. There is only one God over all mankind. God has made a way for all who call upon him to be saved. As somebody put it, "There is now only one line of demarcation going through the human race. In God's eyes you are no longer a Jew or a Gentile. You are either a saved sinner or a lost one." (Stuart Olyott)


Lastly,
Faith upholds the law of God. (V31.)

The third conclusion is that faith is not contrary to the purpose of the law.
V31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Paul was often misunderstood as devaluing the law which was central and sacred to the Jews. He was even accused of being antinomian. (Antinomianism: was a very early heresy relating to the view that Christians are released from the obligation of observing the moral law. In other words, you're saved by grace so you can do what you like. It doesn't really matter because God will forgive you anyhow!)

He briefly and strongly asserts that such thinking is in error and he return in Chapter six to tackle the subject in greater detail. He is not seeking to undermine the importance of the law but seeking to give a true understanding of the purpose of the law and also its limitations, due to human weakness. In the Sermon on the Mount we see evidence that
Jesus knew that his exposition of the law could be misunderstood and he reminded his listeners. Matthew 5:17. Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.
The law is perfect but it could never be our salvation. The law has many good purposes but it could never be the means of our justification. The straight edge of the law shows us how crooked we are. It shows us how much we need the Saviour. Romans 8:3-4 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
The Message rendering goes like this, God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.
The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.


Galatians 3:21-22
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
The law is powerless to save us. It cannot impart life.
In Christ, God has done for us what we could never do for ourselves!
I love this famous quote from John Bunyan, It contrasts the demands of the law with the life imparting gospel and it still speaks to us three centuries later.
"Run, John, run. The law commands
But gives me neither feet nor hands.
Better news the gospel brings;
It bids us fly and gives us wings."



In Conclusion ,

I'm reminded again of some of those last words Jesus spoke from the cross, John 19:30. It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. We know from the original language that this expression, It is finished expresses the "glory and the triumph of His finished work." (R.V.G. Tasker)
"It is accomplished!" (NEB)
That means it is complete and comprehensive. There is nothing that can be added to that work he accomplished. He has done all for our salvation and He has done all things well.

God has made a way for all mankind. His gift of righteousness can only be received by faith. There is no room for boasting but there's plenty of room for gratitude and grateful service that gives glory to God.

Remember Paul's words to the Corinthians. By human standards they didn't have anything to boast about.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not- to nullify the things that are,
29 so that no-one may boast before him.
30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
31 Therefore, as it is written: Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31.
This all by faith alone, in Christ alone, through grace alone and all for the glory of God alone!
(Prayer)


Foot Notes:

See Oswald Chambers on Justification by Faith. "My Utmost for His Highest" October 28th.

Definition of the law: Mostly when Paul is referring to the law he is making specific reference to the Torah. (i.e. the books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.) This was the instruction from God that was cherished and revered by all Jews. They sought to regulate their lives by all this written law. (However the term law (nomos) can be used in other ways depending on the context, e.g. a more comprehensive term for the law and the prophets etc (The Old Testament) or as a principle, e.g. Romans 8:2.

Word Pictures: (Contrasting the effects of law and the gospel!)
From Pilgrims Progress, Chapter Two
SECOND PICTURE
Then he took him by the hand, and led him into a very large parlor that was full of dust, because never swept. The Interpreter called for a man to sweep. When he began to sweep, the dust began so to fly about that Christian was almost choked. Then said the Interpreter to a girl that stood by, "Bring hither water, and sprinkle the room," which, when she had done, it was swept and cleansed with ease.
CHRISTIAN. What means this?
INTERPRETER. This parlor is the heart of a man that was never made pure by the sweet grace of the Gospel. The dust is his original sin, and inward evils, that have defiled the whole man. He who began to sweep at first is the Law; but she that brought water, and did sprinkle it, is the Gospel. As the first began to sweep, you were almost choked, this is to show that the Law, instead of cleansing the heart by its working, increases sin in the soul. Again you saw the girl sprinkle the room with water, and it was cleansed with ease; this is to show that when the Gospel comes, in the sweet and gracious power thereof, to the heart, then I say, even as thou sawest the maiden lay the dust by sprinkling the floor with water, so is sin vanquished and subdued, and the soul made clean through the faith of it, and, consequently, fit for the King of Glory to dwell in.