Romans 3:31

Romans 3:31 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
• New International Version (NIV)Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.

Context of Romans 3:31

29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Romans 3:31 word by word

νόμον οὖν καταργοῦμεν διὰ τῆς πίστεως; μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ νόμον ἱστάνομεν.¶Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Do weκαταργέωkatargeō · to abateG2673
• thenοὖνoun · therefore/thenG3767
• the lawνόμοςnomos · lawG3551
• throughδιάdia · through/because ofG1223
• faithὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• faithπίστιςpistis · faithG4102
• God forbidμήmē · notG3361
• God forbidγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
• yeaἀλλάalla · butG235
• we establishἵστημιhistēmi · to standG2476

Cross-references for Romans 3:31

• Romans 4:14For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
• Psalms 119:126It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken.
• Jeremiah 8:8"How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.
• 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.
• Matthew 15:6he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.
• Galatians 2:21I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
• Galatians 3:17This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
• Romans 3:4By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."
• Romans 7:7What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."
• Romans 8:4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
• Romans 10:4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
• Romans 13:8Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
• Psalms 40:8I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
• Isaiah 42:21The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.
• Jeremiah 31:33For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
• Matthew 3:15But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.

Commentaries on Romans 3:31

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 31Do we then make void the law through faith? - By law here we may understand the whole of the Mosaic law, in its rites and ceremonies; of which Jesus Christ was the subject and the end. All that law had respect to him; and the doctrine of faith in Christ Jesus, which the Christian religion proclaimed, established the very claims and demands of that law, by showing that all was accomplished in the passion and death of Christ, for, without shedding of blood…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 31Do 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. This…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 27-31Verses 27-31 God will have the great work of the justification and salvation of sinners carried on from first to last, so as to shut out boasting. Now, if we were saved by our own works, boasting would not be excluded. But the way of justification by faith for ever shuts out boasting. Yet believers are not left to be lawless; faith is a law, it is a working grace, wherever it is in truth. By faith, not in this matter an act of obedience, or a good work…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 31Instead, we uphold the law: Paul knows that some people will object to his teaching about faith apart from the law. It may sound as if he is setting aside the law’s demands. However, faith does not cancel the law. Faith makes it possible for people to live as the law requires. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who have faith, and the Spirit enables them to do what is right.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3131. Do we then make void the law through faith?--"Does this doctrine of justification by faith, then, dissolve the obligation of the law? If so, it cannot be of God. But away with such a thought, for it does just the reverse." God forbid: yea, we establish the law--It will be observed here, that, important as was this objection, and opening up as it did so noble a field for the illustration of the peculiar glory of the Gospel, the apostle does no more…Read the comment

Topics related to Romans 3:31

• Boasting
• Catholicity
• Works

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Boasting
• Conclude
• Destruction
• Establish
• Faith
• Justifier
• Overcome
• Sin

Commentaries on Romans 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings