Romans 3.28-Justification is By Faith Apart from the Works of the Law
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday December 5, 2007
Romans: Romans 3:28-Justification is By Faith Apart from the Works of the Law
Lesson # 107
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 3:19.
Last evening we studied Romans 3:27 in which Paul teaches that the law or the principle of faith in Jesus Christ in order to be justified before God excludes human merit and pride.
This evening we will note Romans 3:28, in which Paul teaches that justification is by means of faith in Jesus Christ, independently of actions produced by obedience to the Law.
Let’s read Romans 3:19-31 and then concentrate on verse 28.
Romans 3:19, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God.”
Romans 3:20, “Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Romans 3:21, “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.”
Romans 3:22, “Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe for there is no distinction.”
Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:24, “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:25, “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.”
Romans 3:26, “for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Romans 3:27, “Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.”
Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
Romans 3:29, “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also.”
Romans 3:30, “since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.”
Romans 3:31, “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.”
Let’s look at verse 28 in detail.
Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
“For” is the “causal” use of the post-positive conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a statement that presents the reason why human boasting is excluded by means of the principle of faith in Jesus Christ.
Human boasting is the sinner’s arrogant self-confidence in his own merits when approaching a holy God as the means of establishing a relationship with Him.
This arrogant self-confidence in approaching God on the basis of one’s own merits expresses itself through an attitude of independence from God, which is evil.
To attempt to approach God independently of the means He provided through His Son is the epitome of arrogance and independence from God or the epitome of evil.
Thus, boasting in oneself before God is evil since evil is independence from God (Isaiah 14:12-14).
Boasting in oneself can manifest itself by attempting to perform a meritorious system of works to establish a relationship with God.
It can manifest itself by thinking one has merit with God based upon one’s racial background as the Jews did.
It can manifest itself in thinking that one has merit with God based upon what one possesses such as the Jews in relation to the Old Testament.
Also, boasting in oneself can manifest itself by attempting to establish a relationship with God through some system of morality.
The Bible rejects human righteousness since it is based upon a comparison with the morality of other human beings rather than based upon the absolute standard of God’s perfect righteousness.
Isaiah 64:6, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
In Romans 3:9-20 and 23, Paul demonstrates that there is no one in the human race that has merit with God and could get into heaven or enter into a relationship with a holy God based upon his own merits.
Now, in Romans 3:21-31, Paul argues that since the sinner is justified by means of faith in Jesus Christ and not through a meritorious system of works or obedience to the Law, then the sinner has no room for boasting.
Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
“We maintain” is the verb logizomai (logivzomai) (lo-gidz-o-my), which means, “conviction” in the sense of having a fixed or firm belief and confident assurance that is the result of a process of reasoning from the Scriptures.
It means that Paul has come to the conviction that a person is justified by faith in Jesus Christ apart from the works of the Law or in other words, apart from actions that are produced by obedience to the Law.
This word means that Paul was of the conviction that the sinner is justified before God by faith in Jesus Christ rather by attempting to establish a relationship with God based upon one’s own merits or through obedience to the Law as a system of merit.
The word means that he came to this conviction that justification is by faith in Jesus Christ apart from actions produced by obedience to the Law as a system of merit as a result of a thorough and detailed study of the Scriptures.
This conviction is not only the result of a process of studying the Scriptures and receiving direct revelation from the Lord but is also the result of even attempting himself to establish a relationship with God based upon his own merit while as a legalistic, self-righteous Pharisee (See Philippians 3:1-14).
In Romans 3:28, the verb logizomai is in the 1st person plural form and is identified by grammarians as an “exclusive we” referring to Paul, the other apostles as well as other communicators of the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ such as Titus and Timothy and also includes Christians in general.
Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
“A man” is the noun anthropos (a*nqrwpo$) (anth-ro-pos), which is used in a generic sense for a human being without reference to sex or racial background and is equivalent to “a person.”
“Is justified” is the verb dikaioo (dikaiovw) (dik-ah-yo-o), which means, “to declare or pronounce righteous.”
Therefore, the verb dikaioo refers to God declaring a person as righteous as He is as a result of God imputing or crediting to that person His Son’s righteousness, the moment they exercised faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Thus, Paul and his fellow communicators of the gospel of Jesus Christ were of the firm conviction that a person is justified by faith in Jesus Christ and independently of actions produced by obedience to the Law as a system of merit.
This word dikaioo refers to the doctrine of “justification,” which by way of definition is a judicial act of God whereby He declares a person to be righteous as a result of crediting or imputing to that person His righteousness the moment they exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Consequently, God accepts that person and enters that person into a relationship with Himself since they now possess His righteousness.
The mechanics of justification are as follows: (1) God condemns the sinner, which qualifies them to receive His grace. (2) The sinner believes in Jesus Christ as His Savior. (3) God imputes or credits Christ’s righteousness to the believer. (4) God declares that person as righteous as a result of acknowledging His Son’s righteousness in that person.
Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
“By faith” is the dative feminine singular form of the noun pistis (pivsti$) (pis-tis), which refers to the non-meritorious system of perception of placing one’s “trust” or “confidence in” the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The object of faith is Jesus Christ on the Cross as indicated as indicated in Romans 3:22 and 26.
He is the object of faith for salvation and justification since His spiritual death on the Cross as an impeccable person redeemed sinful mankind from the slave market of sin, satisfied the demands of a holy God that human sin be judged, reconciled the entire human race to God and fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law.
The noun pistis functions as “dative instrumental of means” indicating that faith in Jesus Christ is “the means by which” the sinner is declared righteous by a holy God.
“Apart from” is the improper preposition choris (xwriv$) (kho-rece), which is employed with genitive case of the noun ergon, “works” indicating that a person is justified “independently of” or “without relation to” observance of the Law.
In Romans 3:28, the improper preposition choris indicates that the sinner is justified “independently of” or “without any connection to” the actions produced by obedience to the Law as a system of merit.
“Works” is the noun ergon (e&rgon) (er-gon), which refers to “actions” that are produced by obedience to the Old Testament Scriptures.
The noun ergon, “actions” functions as a “genitive of separation” indicating that attempting to be justified by means of actions produced by obedience to the Law is entirely “separate from” attempting to be justified by means of faith in Jesus Christ.
The sinner is never justified before God by means of actions produced by obedience to the Law since the presence of the sin nature renders man powerless to be perfectly obedient, which the Law requires.
James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”
Romans 3:9, “What shall we conclude then? Are we (Christians) as an eternal spiritual truth, superior? By all means, absolutely not! Since, we have already previously indicted both Jew and Greek, with the result that each and every one is under the power of the sin nature.”
Therefore, the human race does not have the capacity to obey the Word of God perfectly, which a holy God requires in order to be accepted into a relationship and fellowship with Him.
In Romans 8:3, Paul explains that God sent His Son to fulfill the requirement of the Law because obedience to the Law could not save humanity because the human race does not have the capacity to be perfectly obedient to the Law.
Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
“The Law” is the noun nomos (novmo$) (nom-os), which again does not refer to simply the Mosaic Law, i.e. the Pentateuch but rather the entire Old Testament Scriptures including the Pentateuch.
The noun nomos, “Law” contains a figure of speech called “metonymy” where the Law is put for obedience to the Law.
It functions as a “genitive of production” meaning that obedience to the Old Testament Scriptures “produced” these actions.
In Romans 3:28, Paul is teaching his audience that the sinner is justified by means of faith in Jesus Christ independently of actions produced by obedience to the Law.
The unsaved Jew erroneously and presumptuously and arrogantly thought that his actions produced by obedience to the Law would serve as a system of merit with God, which cause God to declare him righteous.
However, the Law demanded perfect obedience, which was impossible because both Jew and Gentile are under the dominion or power of the old Adamic sin nature that manifests itself through the function of the volition resulting in the sinner producing mental, verbal and overt acts of sin (Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:1).
Therefore, there is no human being that could be declared justified by God as a result of performing actions that are in obedience to the Law since the Law demanded perfect obedience, which no human being could accomplish because they are sinners by nature.