[Steve Myers] Romans chapter 3 is an amazing section of scripture. It points out so clearly that no amount of law keeping can justify you. No amount of law keeping can make you right with God. No amount of law keeping can forgive your sins, and Romans 3 continually states that over and over and over again all the way to the point of verse 28, which is an amazing passage. And it says there, "We conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28).

Now it's interesting if you read that in German, there would be an extra word that's inserted there and it's the word "alone". Martin Luther felt so strongly about this he added to scripture and said, "By faith alone." Now is that right? Does that mean, "Well, we can forget keeping the Sabbath. We can forget God's commandments. We can forget all of that because none of that justifies us"? Wait a second. If you were to keep reading, get down to verse 31.

Verse 31 says this, "Do we then make void the law through faith?" (Romans 3:28-31) Do we cancel the law? Do we annul the law? Do we do away with the law? That's what that word void means, to do away with the law, to abolish the law because of faith. Is that what we do? Here's what Paul says, "Certainly not." He says, "On the contrary we establish the law."

So we see that through faith we make firm. We have a foundation. We make sure the law is the authority. We maintain the law. That word "establish" means we make it stand. So the amazing part through Romans chapter 3 is the fact that faith and law go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. So always remember, when you read through scripture take in the entire context and that way we can certainly have a balanced approach to the truth of God.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.