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

29Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too! 30Since God is one, he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead 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 they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified.
• Psalms 119:126It is time for the Lord to act – they break your law!
• Jeremiah 8:8How can you say, “We are wise! We have the law of the Lord”? The truth is, those who teach it have used their writings to make it say what it does not really mean.
• Matthew 5:17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.
• Matthew 15:6he does not need to honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition.
• Galatians 2:21I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!
• Galatians 3:17What I am saying is this: The law that came four hundred thirty years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to invalidate the promise.
• Romans 3:4Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being shown up as a liar, just as it is written: “so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”
• Romans 7:7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
• Romans 8:4so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
• Romans 10:4For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.
• Romans 13:8Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
• Psalms 40:8I want to do what pleases you, my God. Your law dominates my thoughts.”
• Isaiah 42:21The Lord wanted to exhibit his justice by magnifying his law and displaying it.
• Jeremiah 31:33“But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people.
• Matthew 3:15So Jesus replied to him, “Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John yielded 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