New Living Translation
Romans 3:31
31Well 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.
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
29After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. 30There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 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.
Read all of Romans 3Romans 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 God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.
- Psalms 119:126Lord, it is time for you to act, for these evil people have violated your instructions.
- Jeremiah 8:8“‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the word of the Lord,” when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies?
- Matthew 5:17“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.
- Matthew 15:6In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.
- Galatians 2:21I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.
- Galatians 3:17This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise.
- Romans 3:4Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him, “You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win your case in court.”
- Romans 7:7Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”
- Romans 8:4He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
- Romans 10:4For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.
- Romans 13:8Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.
- Psalms 40:8I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.”
- Isaiah 42:21Because he is righteous, the Lord has exalted his glorious law.
- Jeremiah 31:33“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
- Matthew 3:15But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize 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
In the dictionaries
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
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