The Gospel Excludes Pride and Boasting (Rom 3:27-31)

Romans 3:27-31; 3:28

"So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law" (Rom 3:28, NLT). "Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law" (Rom 3:27-28, NIV).

I love to boast about my uniqueness. I'm an introvert. Though I love engaging and interacting with others, I also love my time alone time of solitude, reading, meditation and contemplation. I'm autonomously driven. Though I will listen to what others say, ultimately I'll make my own decision, even if it is unpopular. I'm an agent provocateur. I simply love stirring things up. I even love annoying my cats and my wife in fun and jest. Incidentally, my cats are often annoyed by me and swipe at me in response, but my wife has accepted my highly annoying idiosyncrasy as part of our complex marital intimacy and joy...most of the time.
I love boasting about my achievements in life. I entered medical school at age 17 and became a medical doctor at age 22 as the youngest in my graduating class. I was the first doctor from my class to make it to the U.S. in 1980. For three decades I enjoyed meeting many students for one on one Bible study every week while working full time and attending many prayer meetings, while still keeping up with watching movies and catching up on the sports scores. I love boasting about my 33 years of an ecstatically happily married life and my four accomplished children coming to faith in Christ. I love boasting that a group of us began planting a church at West Loop, Chicago, in 2008 and that I started preaching regularly in my mid to late 50s, while most preachers start preaching in their 20s and 30s. There is just no end to boasting about myself.

Boasting is the outward expression of our inner condition of pride. And pride is the cause of all the evils in the world, both among the irreligious and immoral (Rom 1:18-32), as well as the religious and the moral (Rom 2:1-3:20). It is the default of all of sinful humanity under the power of sin (Rom 3:9). Without deeply knowing that I am who I am only because of what Someone Else has done for me, I cannot but be fixated on myself by boasting endlessly about my achievements and my accomplishments. It's like a turtle on top of a fence post, who boasts that he got up there on his own without anyone else's help! Paul understood man's uncontrollable proclivity to boasting and declares that only the gospel breaks the cycle of our need to boast about ourselves (Rom 3:27). Unless I know from the depth of my being that I am blessed, saved and justified ONLY by faith (and not by my works), I cannot but continue to boast about myself.

Only by faith in Christ. In 3:27-4:25, Paul expounds one key element of the great theological thesis of 3:21-26 by concentrating on the vital theme of Rom 3:22, NIV: "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Paul uses a series of antithesis to explain the nature and implications of faith as the sole means of salvation/justification. Faith is contrasted with:

• "works of the law" (Rom 3:28),
• "works" (Rom 4:1-8),
• circumcision (Rom 4:9-12),
• the law (Rom 4:13-16), and
• "sight" (Rom 4:17-22).

Paul expounds and enunciates what has become a hallmark of the Reformation (sola fide) that "faith alone" is the means by which a person can be brought into relationship with God.

There is an impressive degree of parallelism between 3:27-31 and 4:1-25:

• Rom 3:27a (boasting is excluded) and Rom 4:1-2 (Abraham has no right to boast).
• Rom 3:27b-28 (one is justified by faith, not works of the law) and Rom 4:3-8 (Abraham was justified by faith, not works).
• Rom 3:29-30 (circumcised and uncircumcised are united under one God through faith) and Rom 4:9-17 (circumcised and uncircumcised are united as children of Abraham through faith).

The third point is regarding Gentile inclusion in the church is what NT Wright and James Dunn single out as most important in their commentaries on Romans. But Reformed scholars like Douglas Moo regard it as a "both/and" rather than an "either/or" situation in Romans with both Gentile inclusion and the provision God has made to cure the problem of human sin for all people, including both Jew and Gentile. The Jew/Gentile problem is a most serious one in the church (Wright, Dunn) but the fundamental problem is sin (Moo), which is expressed in the church as the problem and discord between Jew and Gentile.

In 3:27-31, Paul asks 4 questions, which can be addressed in 3 parts:

1. Where is boasting (Rom 4:27-28)?
2. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too (Rom 4:29-30)?
3. Do we nullify the law by this faith (Rom 4:31)?

From these questions (Paul's strategy of using the diatribe), we discover how the gospel resolves these issues:

1. The gospel removes pride and boasting from our personal, national, cultural and religious superiority.
2. The gospel promotes unity by removing racial distinctions and elitism.
3. The gospel upholds, fulfills, validates and establishes the law, not nullify or cancel it.

I. The Gospel Removes Boasting (27-28)

II. The Gospel Promotes Unity (29-30)

The last generation or two of NT scholarship has shed a different perspective on how to read Paul. This New Perspective on Paul is a complicated issue—and also controversial. But it is an important one for understanding Paul, especially Romans.

N. T. Wright in particular has been a strong proponent of rethinking the message of Romans in light of the Jewish thought world behind the person of Jesus and into which Paul was speaking. In other words, how would people back then have understood what Paul was saying?

As the argument goes, Romans is often understood as showing the personal path to salvation, “how I can get right with God.” But this is a peripheral (although legitimate) issue. According to Wright, Dunn and others, there is a bigger issue that captures Romans from beginning to end: not personal salvation, but how Jews and Gentiles together can be one people, reconciled to God, united in the risen Messiah, not divided by longstanding ethnic issues.

This may seem a bit anti-climactic for contemporary Protestant readers of Romans. But the Jewish/Gentile issue was a huge problem in the early church. Many Jewish Christians felt that Gentiles had to become Jewish first (through law-keeping, especially circumcision) before being granted Christian fellowship.

Paul says, “No. Gentiles can enter our fellowship as Gentiles. Both groups are on equal footing.” This created tensions (see Acts), especially since the OT requires circumcision for non-Israelites who want to join the fold (e.g., Exodus 12:48). So, Paul spends some time arguing his case especially in Galatians, but also in Romans.

For Jew and Gentile, the real problem is much deeper than one might imagine. It affects both parites equally. Jesus is the solution that both need. To the Jews especially, they must know that keeping the law is not the solution to the world’s problems. It will not fix what is deeply wrong. Only Jesus can. The problem is so deep and universal, the Son of God had to die and rise from the dead to give us all a brand new beginning.

Jesus, in his death and resurrection, does not simply cleanse us from sin. He conquers the effect of sin. He conquers death, for all who believe—Jew and Gentile alike.

Not everyone agrees with this reading of Romans, but it places Paul’s writings more securely within our growing understanding of the religious climate of Paul’s day. The issues N. T. Wright and others raise are important and influential.

III. The Gospel Upholds the Law (31)

References:

1. Why Works Won't Work (Rom 3:27-4:12). Keith Krell.
2. Study Guide for Romans 3. David Guzik.
3. Romans 3:21-31, Sam Storms.

Questions:

1. What causes boasting (Rom 1:21; Phil 3:3)? With what results (1 Cor 1:12; 3:4; Gal 5:15)? What excludes boasting (Rom 3:27)? What could Paul boast about (Phil 3:4-6)? Why didn't he (Phil 3:7-8)? What did he boast about (Gal 6:14)?
2. What apart from Christ, might you be tempted to boast in as the grounds of your confidence or self worth? How will you ensure that you boast only in Christ?
3. What does it mean that justification is by faith apart from the works of the law (Rom 3:28; 4:5)?
4. Why is God the God of both Jews and Gentiles (Rom 3:29-30)? How does the law of faith instead of the law of works (Rom 3:31) put Jews and Gentiles on the same footing before God?
5. How does justification by faith uphold the law (Rom 3:31)? How does this refute the charge of antinomianism (Rom 6:1-2, 15)?
6. Rom 3:21-31 explains the very foundation of the Christian faith. How might you communicate this to those who do not understand the gospel?

Douglas Moo (Lecture 14): In 3:27-4:25 Paul is picking up the issue of faith from 3:21-26. Parallelism 3:27-31 and 4:1-25: boasting, faith and works, Gentile inclusion - faith is for both the circumcision and uncircumcision. N.T. Wright and James Dunn's commentary on Romans singles out this third point that what Paul is regarding as important in Romans is the inclusion of the Gentiles (NPP). But Moo says that it is not "either/or" but "both/and" - with the provision God has made to cure the problem of human sin, for all people, including for both Jew and Gentile. The fundamental problem is the problem between Jew and Gentile (Wright, Dunn), but Moo regards the fundamental problem as sin.

Chap. 4. "Midrash" - Jewish way of interpreting Scripture. Paul's interpretation is not academic but practical. Move from ancient text to modern reader. It's similar in Paul's day. Paul's point in chap. 4 is that justification by faith is what the Scripture text supports. Paul focuses on a single text: Gen 15:6. Three high points in Abraham's life: Genesis chap. 15, 17, 22. Jewish scholars emphasize circumcision and obedience. Paul says that Gen 15 preceded Gen 17 and 22, before circumcision and before offering Isaac. Paul does a very Jewish thing: To support a text from the Law (Gen 15:16), Paul quotes the Prophets - Ps 32:1-2.

No Boasting Allowed (3:27-31),  Sinclair Ferguson: In Romans so far: Paul had a long held desire to go to Rome to impart some spiritual gift to them, and be encouraged by them. God gave him a charge to take the gospel to the Gentiles, with a special desire for Rome. Why did he write such a long letter? He desired to press westward beyond Italy and Rome. Because his teaching was distorted and objected to, he gave his personal credentials (Rom 1:1). There was tension between Jews and Gentile believes, between weak and strong Christians. Paul wants them to know that the solution for every problem is the gospel. When we lose the grace, glory and power of the gospel (Rom 1:16), we get into problems. Why do we need the gospel? Rom 1:18-3:20 explains. Regardless of whether we are Jew or Gentile, Paul removes all hope that we can ever save ourselves (Rom 3:9-12, 19-20, 23). We are all guilty, vile and helpless apart from Christ. His magic words, "But now..." (Rom 3:21) there is good news. There is a glorious relief when we realize this.

Paul gives the short form answers to four questions (3:27-31), while in chap. 4 Paul would expand on them through the life of Abraham. This was a stroke of extraordinary genius. People's complaint may be that if they believed Paul's gospel, they would have nothing to boast about (long answer 4:1-8). Is the blessing of God only for Jews (long answer: 4:9-12). Does the gospel nullify the law of God? (long answer: 4:13-25).

Boasting was an issue for Paul. Before becoming a Christian, Paul had much to boast of (Phil 3). The gospel of Jesus Christ closes the door of boasting on ourselves. Paul's change began when he met Stephen. The evangelical church is rife with pride, as shown by the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. It may not be crass boasting, but a very subtle boasting. It comes out in big and small ways, in superiority and inferiority complexes. (We can't stop thinking about ourselves and what others think of us.) Humility is coming to realize that you have nothing to boast about, like the tax collector. Why we need the gospel, why we need the early chapters of Romans: We need it deeper and deeper within ourselves. The principle of works by nature can lead to boasting. But the principle of faith can never lead to boasting (Rom 3:27).

Moo's Division of Romans:

I. The Letter Opening (1:1-17)

A. Prescript (1:1-7)

B. Thanksgiving and Occasion: Paul and the Romans (1:8-15)

C. The Theme of the Letter (1:16-17)

II. The Heart of the Gospel: Justification by Faith (1:18–4:25)

A. The Universal Reign of Sin (1:18–3:20)

1. All Persons Are Accountable to God for Sin (1:18-32)

2. Jews Are Accountable to God for Sin (2:1–3:8)

a. The Jews and the Judgment of God (2:1-16)

b. The Limitations of the Covenant (2:17-29)

c. God's Faithfulness and the Judgment of Jews (3:1-8)

3. The Guilt of All Humanity (3:9-20)

B. Justification by Faith (3:21–4:25)

1. Justification and the Righteousness of God (3:21-26)

2. "By Faith Alone" (3:27–4:25)

a. "By Faith Alone": Initial Statement (3:27-31)

b. "By Faith Alone": Elaboration with Respect to Abraham (4:1-25)