Romans 3:27–31
Romans 3:27–31 (KJV)
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Summarized Philosophical View
Faith abolishes boasting because it removes human merit from the equation of salvation. Paul reveals that justification by faith is the ultimate equalizer—all stand guilty under the law, and all are freely redeemed by grace. This is not irrational fideism but the most coherent moral logic imaginable: salvation rests on divine consistency, not human performance.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” — Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)
Apologetic Devotional
In this climactic conclusion to Romans 3, Paul shatters the last refuge of human pride—boasting. “Where is boasting then? It is excluded.” Here reason meets revelation: if salvation is by grace through faith, then every form of self-congratulation collapses. The gospel leaves no room for arrogance, because grace is the admission that all we have, we have received.
J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig affirm this profound rational humility: “Faith rightly understood is not blind belief but the acknowledgment of dependence upon the One who alone can justify.”. Reason recognizes its limits before God’s holiness; faith is the rational act of entrusting oneself to truth that transcends one’s own power. Thus, faith is not opposed to reason—it is reason’s highest expression of humility.
Norman Geisler explains: “Boasting is excluded because grace gives what works could never earn; human merit and divine mercy are mutually exclusive.”. In every moral system built on works, pride survives. But in the gospel, pride dies at the cross. No culture, ethnicity, or moral pedigree can claim superiority, for “there is no difference: all have sinned.” The logic of grace levels humanity and glorifies God.
Alister McGrath draws attention to the universality of this truth: “Faith, not law, creates the true human unity; it abolishes the divisions of race, culture, and class by rooting identity in Christ rather than achievement.”. This is the apologetic brilliance of Paul’s argument: justification by faith is not only a theological doctrine but a philosophical manifesto for human equality before God.
C. S. Lewis captures the heart of this humility: “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”. Pride blinds reason to truth because it makes the self the measure of all things. Faith, by contrast, lifts the eyes upward—to the only One worthy of trust and glory.
Michael Wilkins writes: “Faith fulfills the law because it unites the believer to the Lawgiver; obedience becomes the fruit, not the root, of righteousness.”. Paul’s closing words—“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”—affirm that grace does not nullify moral order; it restores it. The law is fulfilled, not by effort, but by union with Christ, the perfect embodiment of divine righteousness.
Thus, the “law of faith” becomes both the death of pride and the birth of true unity. Christianity alone provides a worldview where salvation is logically consistent, morally pure, and universally available. Human boasting is excluded, divine justice is upheld, and grace reigns through righteousness.
Let every believer, then, live as a living argument for this truth: faith is not weakness but wisdom—the clear-eyed recognition that only God saves.
Supporting Scriptures:
Ephesians 2:8–9 | Galatians 3:26–28 | Philippians 3:8–9 | Isaiah 45:22
Reflection & Response
- How does faith humble both intellect and heart before God?
- What would it look like for the church today to live as a community defined not by merit, but by mercy?
Sources
- Moreland & Craig, p. 541: “Faith rightly understood is not blind belief but the acknowledgment of dependence upon the One who alone can justify.”
- Geisler, p. 362: “Boasting is excluded because grace gives what works could never earn; human merit and divine mercy are mutually exclusive.”
- McGrath, p. 181: “Faith, not law, creates the true human unity; it abolishes the divisions of race, culture, and class by rooting identity in Christ rather than achievement.”
- Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book III, ch. 8: “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
- Wilkins, p. 226: “Faith fulfills the law because it unites the believer to the Lawgiver; obedience becomes the fruit, not the root, of righteousness.”