Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law (Rom 3:31 KJV).
Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law (Rom 3:31 NIV).
I. The Law should and will be upheld. Why?
A. The law should be upheld simply because it is God's Law. Regardless of what one believes concerning his relationship to the law, he should never speak ill of it, for it is God's law. It is of God's design; it is of God's revealing; and it says something to us of His character.
B. The law should be upheld because it is just, holy, and good.
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good (Rom 7:12 NIV).There is no fault in the law. We are guilty of breaking the law, but we must not double our guilt by saying that the fault lies with the law. Regardless of what we believe our relationship to the law to be, we cannot find anything wrong with the law. Not one of its commands is unreasonable; not one of its precepts is needlessly burdensome. While it is impossible that any son of Adam could ever gain any blessing at all by means of his complying with the law, the fault does not lie with the law, but with the sons of Adam:
For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said : "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." (Hebrews 8:7, 8 NIV)The problem with righteousness by the Law lies with "the people" not with the law.
C. The Law of God should be upheld because our Master, the Lord Jesus upheld it.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Mat 5:17 NIV).No matter what anyone thinks about the present place of the law, none can deny that it must be upheld unless he wants to fly in the face of Scripture and common sense.
II. How, then, can the law be upheld? It is certain that the law can be upheld, for Paul says, "We uphold it."
A. The first, and most obvious way to uphold the law is to keep it.
1. This means, simply, to do it. It is good to respect, admire and speak well of the law; but this is not sufficient in and of itself. One must actually do the law. As Moses wrote: "Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them" (Rom 10:5 NIV).
The law cannot be upheld without doing.
2. To uphold the law by doing, one must do what the law says. One cannot uphold the law by doing what he thinks the law means; nor can one uphold the law by doing "the eternal spiritual principles which lie behind the law." I mention this, because there are many who say that they are keeping the law; but when you ask them what the law is, it turns out to be nothing more that their version of the law. This is especially applicable to the commandment concerning the Sabbath Day. The Law is clear: the Sabbath day is the seventh day. Unless one keeps Saturday as the Sabbath, he is not upholding the law by his own works, no matter how devout he may be in a "Sunday Sabbath." My point here is that the law, to be upheld by our endeavors, must be kept as it is, not as we would re-interpret it.
3. To uphold the law by doing, we must do it perfectly.
It has been said, "The law is not a smorgasbord." One is not free to pick and choose which laws to keep. To uphold the law by doing, one must do all of it.
4. To uphold the law by doing, one must keep it continually:
If one is to uphold the law by doing, it must be a continual, unbroken work of law.
5. The immediate conclusion we can draw from this is that there is not one son of Adam who has ever upheld the Law in this manner. Since there is no one who can uphold the law by doing the law, yet Paul says there are some who do uphold the law, it must be there is some way in which to uphold the law without doing the law.
B. The only way that we who cannot do the law can, none the less, uphold the law, is by trusting in Someone else who did do the law. That person is Jesus Christ. He alone, of all human beings, upheld the law by doing it. He kept the law perfectly, completely and continually. He did "always those things that pleased His Father," and of Him, and Him alone, does the Father say, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." Not once did the Lord Jesus go beyond the boundaries of the law; not once did He transgress.
Notice Paul's conclusion:
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law... Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law (Rom 3:28, 31).1. What faith is he speaking of? That faith which is separate from the observance of the law! This may seem contradictory at first, but let us note that it is truth, then we can examine how it is true. In verse 28, Paul refers to "faith apart from observing the law." Then in verse 31 he writes that by this faith we do not destroy the law, but uphold it. His point is not that, by faith, we gain the power to keep the law. Rather, he is saying that the very faith which operates apart from observing the law actually upholds the law.
2. Does this appear contradictory? It may appear so to the natural mind; but the principles of the gospel show the complete consistency of the principle. The faith which upholds the law is that faith which looks to Christ and Him crucified as providing all that is necessary for salvation. The sinner who looks to Christ:
a. Upholds the condemnation or verdict of the law by confessing that he is a sinner in need of Christ. In some circles, coming to Christ is presented as the virtuous thing to do. But, he who truly comes to Christ is confessing that he has no virtue! He agrees with and upholds the law's declaration that he is a sinner.
b. Upholds the sentence of the law by confessing that what Christ endured is what he, the sinner, deserves. The sinner who looks to Christ is not viewing the work of the cross as merely a demonstration of love, but as the satisfying of a debt to Divine justice. He sees in the cross of Christ the Law's sentence against his sin, and confesses that it is just.
c. Upholds the perfection and strictness of the law by resisting the temptation to gain God's blessings by his own works under the law. He who knows the law yet attempts to gain a blessing by it is proving he has a much too high opinion of himself or much too low opinion of the law. Such a one is a destroyer of the law, for he presents his imperfect obedience as a reason for blessing, thus denying the perfection and strictness of the law.
d. Upholds the justice of the law by expecting to receive all God's eternal blessings by virtue of Christ's obedience to the law and subsequent death under its penalty. That one who abandons any hope of blessing by his own observance of the law, yet is confident of blessing in Christ is upholding the justice of the law. How so? Paul wrote:
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor. 5:21 KJV).
That is, God, who is the author and power of the law, made Christ to be sin in behalf of His people. If the law (and by extension, God) is just, then it must be that all who are in Christ are made righteous. For the law (God) to accept the righteousness of Christ, yet require that a sinner who trusts in Christ perform more works under the law in order to gain a blessing, would make the law to be unjust. Moreover, for the law (God) to exact from Christ the penalty due for my sins yet also require that I pay additional penalty would be to declare the law unjust. This is exactly what every legalist does, for such a one teaches that God requires more than what Christ rendered under the law. However, the one who trusts in Christ is upholding, even counting on, the law's justice, for he recognizes that, for the law to be just, it must as assuredly justify him in Christ as it had formerly condemned him in himself.
C. That faith which operates apart from the law does not nullify or abolish the law, but upholds it. By believing the promise, we do not make the law worthless. However, he who tries to supplement the promise with the law makes the promise worthless, yea, he abolishes the promise:
For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: (Rom 4:14 KJV). Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace (Gal 5:4 KJV).The man who attempts to gain a blessing by his own observance of the law destroys both the law and the gospel. He who abandons all self hope and trusts solely on the merits of Christ righteousness and death upholds both the law and the gospel.