Romans 3:27-30 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? No: but by the law of faith.… I. FAITH A LAW. 1. As God's appointed way of acceptance. 2. As an economy according to which God deals with men. 3. As a binding rule to which we owe subjection. 4. As having justification connected with it as a sure result. II. THIS LAW EXCLUDES BOASTING. 1. From the nature of faith. Faith simply trusts, accepts a proffered gift. There can be no boasting in believing that God speaks the truth; nor in a helpless sinner leaning on omnipotence; nor in a beggar receiving alms. Faith looks entirely away from itself to another, viz., Christ. Eyes only Christ's righteousness, not its own; comes empty-handed and receives out of Christ's fulness (John 1:16); is the window through which the light passes, not the light; glories in Christ's obedience, but not in its own. Therefore faith is a humble, depending, self-renouncing grace. 2. From God's procedure in justifying by it. All are regarded on the same footing as guilty sinners, for men are justified as ungodly (Romans 4:5), the greatest sinner as freely and fully as the least (1 Timothy 1:15). Crimson, double-dyed sins are no hindrance to acceptance (Isaiah 1:18; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11); nor nature's highest attainments a furtherance of it (Mark 10:17-22). All equally need salvation and all are welcome to it. The one ground of acceptance for all is Christ's righteousness, for the wedding garment was for the poorest as well as for the richest (Matthew 22:11, 12). 3. From the origin of faith itself. Faith to receive is Christ's gift (Hebrews 12:2; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 1:20). The withered hand restored to accept the proffered bounty. (J. Robinson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. |
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