We Establish The Law
📖 Romans 3:31 (KJV) Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
✅ Introduction
We it comes to this teaching of Romans 3:31, there is a lot to be said here but first we need to understand the context of why Paul is mentioning this verse, take a look at verse 23…
📖 Romans 3:23-28 (KJV) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
The reason why Paul said “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid” Is because the nature of salvation that its by faith alone and not of works.
1️⃣ Saved By Faith Alone
What I want us to notice is the continuation of of this verse into chapter 4…
📖 Romans 4:1-7 (KJV) What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
The very first word of the chapter starts with a question that connects to the previous verse which confirms our context even more.
Notice here that Paul references Old Testament characters to prove salvation is by faith alone and not of works, this shows that salvation was always by faith throughout all generations.
More importantly is that this passage it making it very clear that works have nothing to do with our eternal salvation, now people would get confused with Abraham believing by faith then in the book of James 2
📖 James 2:21-24 (KJV) Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
The key to understanding this is to recognize that Paul and James are talking about two different kinds of justification:
Paul is talking about justification before God
James is talking about justification before men
They are not contradicting each other. They are addressing two different audiences, two different problems, and two different types of justification.
📖 Romans 4:2 (KJV) For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
Paul is speaking about justification before God, it’s not by works, but James is speaking about justification before men.
📖 James 2:14-18 (KJV) What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
So it’s obvious that James is speaking about justification of men as he mentions pleasing people with food and warmth, this is not about eternal salvation but rather how to be accepted of men.
And so, the relations of this point to the main text is the context is about having faith alone for eternal salvation, this is why Paul is saying “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid” Which leads us to our next point…
2️⃣ How We Keep Our Salvation
This is where the Romans 3:31 starts to make more sense, because if we look closely at the verse…
📖 Romans 3:31 (KJV) Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Why would he have to mention about the law being made void through faith?
The reason is because not only are we saved by faith alone but the moment we believe on the death, burial and the resurrection of Christ we have eternal life which we could never lose, as I mostly explain in our gospel presentation, I add the book of 1 John 5:10-11
📖 1 John 5:10-11 (KJV) He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Here it says you need you to believe the record of his son that God hath given to us eternal life! I usually follow up and ask people if you could lose eternal life could it ever be eternal to begin with? And most times if they aren’t religious they will agree.
Now I remember a situation that I got into out soul winning where I meet this guy who I was giving the gospel, as I was coming to a close the guy seemed very interested until his wife who was listening in house hiding called out and said “So you believe in once saved always saved just so you can have a license to sin?” Obviously I simply replied “God forbid: yea, we establish the law”.
As I continued to explain to her, Just because we have eternal life doesn’t mean we are freely going to sin or though we can, but rather we will establish the law. Because if we sin then there will be consequences (but not losing eternal salvation) and I proceeded to show her the book of Hebrews, but she still continue to hate me and yell at me which stopped the conversation unfortunately.
📖 Hebrews 12:6-11 (KJV) For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
What we see here is Gods chastisement for his children, its like father and son, my son would ever stop being my son no matter how many sins he commits because he is born into my family, and its the same with God, once we are born into Gods family through faith alone he will begin to chastise his children so they learn to do right. This is an important doctrine chastisement of Children as the Bible states….
📖 Proverbs 13:24 (KJV) He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
📖 Proverbs 22:15 (KJV) Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
📖 Proverbs 23:13-14 (KJV) Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
📖 Proverbs 29:15 (KJV) The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
This is why God chastises us, because it leads us to righteousness and it helps us stay the right track, this is the same for us when we chastise our children…
📖 Hebrews 12:11 (KJV) Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
We can’t unmake them our children, and this concept is the same with God, once we are born again into the family of God, you cannot be unborn. This is what it means to have Eternal life.
If you think about it, it’s like in our life, we have the freedom to sin but does that mean we are just going to sin? Now some do but what happens, there are consequences, you can be put in Jail depending on the sin, you can die, its the same with being a child of God, there is consequences and we don’t want to play with him….
📖 Hebrews 10:30-31 (KJV) For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
This is why I hold up the law because I’d rather be on Gods good side and be blessed rather than being chastised, also I uphold the law because I’m thankful to God for dying on the cross for me and giving me eternal life, isn’t it true when your grateful to someone you do your best to keep respect that relationship! There is one last thing why I uphold the law because of the reward system that God will give us when he returns.
Those are some great reasons why we uphold the law and it works for me and every other saved person, so when people say “you want a free license to sin” we simply reply…
📖 Romans 3:31 (KJV) Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
3️⃣ What Are The Laws
Before I get into the laws, I wanted to add that Laws are important and are everywhere, we all live by laws, its in our work place, its in our homes, its in our system of governance and whether we like them or not, we ourselves use laws in our life so its hypocritical to hate laws because laws only brings structure and peace, this is what it is for.
When there is no laws everything falls part, if you look at successful people that put laws in place to structure their life and make it better, but those that don’t have a structure or laws in place are usually the people struggling in life, so laws are a help and not a joy kill as many would love to believe.
📕 Simple Laws
Now the laws of God are simpler than we think it's just about respecting others around you, and loving God…
📖 Matthew 22:37-40 (KJV) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
This doesn’t sound hard to do!
📖 Romans 13:10 (KJV) Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Does this sound reasonable! Yes, thats what the world would say anyway.
📖 Galatians 5:14 (KJV) For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
What we need to understand is that we have way more freedom then most think, this is why Paul had to address it…
📖 Galatians 5:13 (KJV) For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Because we have so much freedom, Paul tells us simply that we shouldn’t use our freedom to sin, as long as it doesn’t affect you or anyone else you're free to do it.
📕 Why people hate the Law
If it’s so easy to keep the law of God why do people hate it?
The simple reason is because people follow the pleasures of their flesh, what people don’t take into consideration is that is the hurt of others, they too busy thinking of themselves, an example is fornication! A lot of people want to do this and they justify it by saying its love, but if you really loved that person you would marry them, the reason you don’t marry is because when things don’t suit you, you can quickly discard and move to the next, and somewhere along the line people get hurt, because you might sleep with someone that was seeing some else who actually fell in love with that person and now someone ends up dead because of this issue.
What happened here? A Neighbor was affected by your actions, this is one of the reasons why God is against fornication.
📖 Galatians 5:19-22 (KJV) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Now another point I would like to add is Drugs and Alcohol, people hate Gods law because they love pleasing their flesh with drugs and Alcohol, and the excuses are that they make me feel happy? Well I’m sorry that your life suck so bad you have to alter your mind in order to live that is just horrible.
📖 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (KJV) But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
📖 Titus 2:6 (KJV) Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
📖 1 Peter 1:13-16 (KJV) Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Look either way we slice the pie the Bible makes it clear that having a sober mind is good, which alcohol and drugs clearly goes against, because there is a lot of people who justify drugs or alcohol but I’m so sorry to be a buzz kill and stop you from making your mind sober to retard, but the Bible condemns your silly sin that you hold dearly.
And let me tell you I have done all these things, anyone that knows me, knows I have done all these things and yes I hurt many people, my Alcohol and drug use hurt tons of people, their are family who would testify that I hurt them one way or another, so let me tell this, since I have stopped all those thing I have only became way more productive, and most of those people I hurt, they are actually glad I have changed for the better.
⏰ Conclusion
📖 Romans 3:31 (KJV) Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Just because we are saved by faith alone, it doesn’t mean we are freely going to sin and just because we have eternal life it doesn’t mean I’m going to freely sin, God forbid, we establish the law.
