Romans 3:27-31 - No boasting

"Where then is the boasting?" Why does Paul suddenly introduce the matter of boasting? Maybe it is because man's natural inclination is to seek to have "earned" salvation. We go back again to the root of sin, rebellion against God and seeking to live life independent of Him, choosing our own standards. So even when we apparently turn to God we are still seeking to take some of the credit. The Jews were very proud of their heritage, considering themselves better than others. There were no grounds for this and Paul knew that they needed to jettison all such notions. Non-believers often accuse Christians of considering themselves better than others. There are in fact no grounds for this in the gospel. Similarly they often attack the gospel on the grounds of fairness. Such attacks are out of order, totally missing the point. Our part is to have faith in what God has done.

Justification is by faith alone. Observing the Law plays no part in our justification. Paul here is making the point that the good news is for all, salvation is for all. All nations were to be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Throughout the Old Testament we see a God who is God of the whole earth. If you have been following my earlier blogs on Isaiah you will have seen how it is shot through with the notion of God's salvation going out to all nations. This global nature of God's salvation was the reason why Paul objected so strongly to Peter's actions reported in Galatians 2. God is God of the Jews and the Gentiles.

Both the circumcised and uncircumcised are justified by the same faith. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant, it was not the covenant itself. We humans have a terrible habit of attributing salvation to the wrong thing. Likewise we are not saved by baptism, rather it is a symbol of what God has done. Circumcision divided the world into Jews and non-Jews. Faith unites.

So is the Law rejected or nullifed? "Not at all!". Rather, it is fulfilled. As Paul had shown earlier, the Law made it quite clear that no man was going to be justified on the basis of the Law.