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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, 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.

Context of Romans 3:31

29Is God only the God of the Jews? Isn’t he also the God of people who are not Jewish? Certainly, he is, 30since it is the same God who approves circumcised people by faith and uncircumcised people through this same faith. Are we abolishing the laws in the Scriptures by this faith? That’s unthinkable! Rather, we are supporting these laws.

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 4:14If those who obey Moses’ Teachings are the heirs, then faith is useless and the promise is worthless.
• Psalms 119:126It is time for you to act, O Lord. Even though people have abolished your teachings,
• Jeremiah 8:8“ ‘How can you say that you are wise and that you have the Lord’s teachings? The scribes have used their pens to turn these teachings into lies.
• Matthew 5:17“Don’t ever think that I came to set aside Moses’ Teachings or the Prophets. I didn’t come to set them aside but to make them come true.
• Matthew 15:6does not have to honor his father. Because of your traditions you have destroyed the authority of God’s word.
• Galatians 2:21I don’t reject God’s kindness. If we receive God’s approval by obeying the laws in the Scriptures, then Christ’s death was pointless.
• Galatians 3:17This is what I mean: The laws ⌞given to Moses⌟ 430 years after God had already put his promise ⌞to Abraham⌟ into effect didn’t cancel the promise ⌞to Abraham⌟.
• Romans 3:4That would be unthinkable! God is honest, and everyone else is a liar, as Scripture says, “So you hand down justice when you speak, and you win your case in court.”
• Romans 7:7What should we say, then? Are the laws in Moses’ Teachings sinful? That’s unthinkable! In fact, I wouldn’t have recognized sin if those laws hadn’t shown it to me. For example, I wouldn’t have known that some desires are sinful if Moses’ Teachings hadn’t said, “Never have wrong desires.”
• Romans 8:4Therefore, we, who do not live by our corrupt nature but by our spiritual nature, are able to meet God’s standards in Moses’ Teachings.
• Romans 10:4Christ is the fulfillment of Moses’ Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval.
• Romans 13:8Pay your debts as they come due. However, one debt you can never finish paying is the debt of love that you owe each other. The one who loves another person has fulfilled Moses’ Teachings.
• Psalms 40:8I am happy to do your will, O my God.” Your teachings are deep within me.
• Isaiah 42:21The Lord is pleased because he does what is right. He praises the greatness of his teachings and makes them glorious.
• Jeremiah 31:33“But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
• Matthew 3:15Jesus answered him, “This is the way it has to be now. This is the proper way to do everything that God requires of us.” Then John gave in to him.

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