What Becomes of Our Boasting?

What Becomes of Our Boasting? | Romans 3:27-31 | Ian Goodman
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

After Paul makes his grand statement on the doctrine of justification, that it is by grace through faith, and not by works of the law, Paul then mentions three outcomes of the gospel in the life and attitude of the Christian.
1. The exclusion of all boasting.
If we are saved by grace and not by works then there is no ground for boasting. This is a great test to see if you have understood the gospel correctly. If you can look at any part of your life and see there a reason for pride or boasting, then you have not understood the gospel truly. If you think that you became a Christian because of your righteousness, your intelligence, your humility, or even your free will apart from the enablement of God’s grace, and if you see in these things ground for boasting, then you have not understood the gospel truly. In the gospel we are instructed not to think this way.

2. The exclusion of all divisions among the justified.
If we are all saved in the same way, then we have no basis for separation or division. “God is one – who justifies the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.” It is profound to think that our unity in the gospel is actually based all the way back in the very unity and oneness of God!

3. Not the exclusion of the law but the establishment of the law.
After mentioning two things that are excluded by the gospel, Paul goes on to mention something that is not excluded but rather established—the law. Far from removing the law by faith, rather we uphold the law by faith. Faith gives us the energy and momentum we need to uphold the law. Like a rollercoaster that flies down a steep hill in order to be able to ascend the next, so our faith gives us the momentum we need to obey the law.