Romans - Chapter 3

Romans 3 (New International Version)


No One is Righteous

We cannot attain righteousness by observing the law. The law was never created for that purpose. The only purpose for the law was to make man “conscious of sin”. In the garden man became aware of the existence of good and evil. However, man was never given the ability to distinguish between the two. We are fully aware the two of them exist, we just don’t know which one is which. We constantly confuse them; identifying one as the other, convinced we know better. But we do not, and we can not. Man will always remain ignorant under the law.

Romans 3:19-20
19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.


Righteousness Through Faith

There is one way and only one way man can be counted as righteous. That way is only by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus Christ. It is wholly apart from the law. It has absolutely nothing to do with the law or the observing of it. We are all sinners and are justified only by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ.

Romans 3:21-25
21But now righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

No room was left for boasting (pride). Man cannot be justified by his own efforts in observing the law. He is justified by grace through faith and faith alone.

Romans 3:27-28
27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

"Love, and do what you want"

"Dilige, et quod vis fac." "Love, and do what you want."
St. Augustine of Hippo

Saint Augustine, in his commentaries on John's Epistles, writes Dilige, et quod vis fac, "Love, and do what you want."

At first sight, this seems a dangerous piece of advice. Numerous, after all, are the wicked things done in the name of "love." Augustine, though, is not talking about cheap, tawdry imitations of love: he is speaking of a love that desires God above all things and chooses the things of God; a love which treats our fellow men and women in the way that God has established, in a way that is subordinate to love of God and which flows from it.


"Him shall He teach in the way He chooses" (Psalm 25:12). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, "I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?" God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, "Now, Lord, what is Your will?"

- Oswald Chambers

Even noble loves can lose this priority: to the degree that they stray from the love of God, which is identical with His justice and His law, these loves lose the character of love and decay into pride, self-gratification, lust, greed, or the service of idols. To the degree that the love is truly divine charity, to that degree one's will is guided by the Spirit, and he may do as he pleases, knowing that his actions are guided by God's own will. Hence Augustine's command, Dilige, et quod vis fac.”