Romans 3:31 BSB — MannaFest

Romans 3:31

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law.

KJV

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

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Commentary

2 voices

Cyril of Alexandria

COMMENTARY ON ROMANS (444)

On account of his humanity Emmanuel is called a prophet, who following Moses is the mediator between God and humanity. The law was a shadow, but even so it presented an image of the truth. Furthermore, the truth hardly destroys its images; rather it makes-them clearer.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)

Do we then make void the law through faith?.... Which question is answered by way of detestatation, God forbid! and by asserting the contrary, yea, we establish the law. The law is not made void, neither by the grace nor doctrine of faith: not by the grace of faith; for that faith is not right which is not attended with works of righteousness; and those works are not right which do not flow from filth. Such a connection there is between faith and works; and so much do the one depend upon the other.

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

We establish the law - Both the authority, purity, and the end of it; by defending that which the law attests; by pointing out Christ, the end of it; and by showing how it may be fulfilled in its purity.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

Do we then make void the law - Do we render it vain and useless; do we destroy its moral obligation; and do we prevent obedience to it, by the doctrine of justification by faith? This was an objection which would naturally be made; and which has thousands of times been since made, that the doctrine of justification by faith tends to licentiousness. The word “law” here, I understand as referring to the moral law, and not merely to the Old Testament.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

(3) The glory of God's law, in its eternal and immutable obligations, is then only fully apprehended by the sinner, and then only is it enthroned in the depths of his soul, when, believing that "He was made sin for him who knew no sin," he sees himself "made the righteousness of God in Him" (2Co 5:21).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

11 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
νόμον	nomon	Law	G3551 →
οὖν	oun	then	G3767 →
καταργοῦμεν	katargoumen	do we nullify	G2673 →
διὰ	dia	through	G1223 →
τῆς	tēs	<the>	G3588 →
πίστεως;	pisteōs	faith?	G4102 →
μὴ	mē	Never	G3361 →
γένοιτο,	genoito	would it be!	G1096 →
ἀλλὰ	alla	Instead	G235 →
νόμον	nomon	law	G3551 →
ἱστάνομεν.¶	histanomen	we uphold.	G2476 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Matthew 5:17
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.
leads to
- Romans 10:4
  For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.
- Luke 16:17
  But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
- Galatians 4:4–5
  But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
- Romans 8:4
  so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
- Isaiah 42:21
  The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
Through
Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.
leads to
- Galatians 3:24
  So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- Romans 8:3–4
  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin.…
Through
Galatians 2:21
I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.
leads to
- Romans 11:6
  And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

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About Romans

The Crucifixion — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

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01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Romans

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Romans