“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith” (Romans 3:27).
Because God is “…just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26) there is no room for boasting in something God has done on His own. While there is little shortage of those who seek to brag about who they are and what they have accomplished, there is nothing for us to boast of with respect to our salvation.
We can associate this reference to works in Romans 3:27 with an attempt to follow the Old Testament Law or anything else we might do to earn God’s favor. We will never find justification in taking that approach because human efforts to win God’s approval will inevitably fall short. As we were reminded earlier in Romans 3:20, “…no one is put right in God’s sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make us know that we have sinned” (GW).
The Law of God accomplishes that purpose in showing us where we fall short of God’s standards. Consider the observations made by the following commentary…
“Some sins seem bigger than others because their obvious consequences are much more serious. Murder, for example, seems to us to be worse than hatred, and adultery seems worse than pride. But this does not mean that because we only commit ‘little’ sins we deserve eternal life. All sins make us sinners, and all sins cut us off from our holy God. All sins, therefore, lead to death (because they disqualify us from living with God), regardless of how great or small they seem. Don’t minimize ‘little’ sins or overrate ‘big’ sins. They all separate us from God, but they all can be forgiven.” (1)
That same source later adds…
“Most religions require specific duties that must be performed to make a person acceptable to a god. Christianity is unique in that no good deed that we do will make us right with God. No amount of human achievement or personal goodness will close the gap between God’s moral perfection and our imperfect daily performance. Good deeds are important, but they will not earn us eternal life. We are saved only by trusting in what God has done for us (see Eph_2:8-10).” (2)
So, before we begin to boast of who we are and what we have done, we would do well to take a more accurate perspective…
“Man takes credit for everything. We take pride in our abilities and accomplishments. We have self-confidence and trust in our money and strength. But who are we to boast? God is holding the molecules of our bodies together (Col. 1:17). God is the source of every good thing we receive (James 1:17). We must give Him the credit for all things…” (3)
(1) Life Application Study Bible NKJV [Romans 3:23] Copyright © 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2004 by Tyndale House Publishers Inc., all rights reserved.
(2) Life Application Study Bible NKJV. Ibid. [Romans 3:27-28]
(2) Daniel, R. (n.d.). Revelation 14:1-20 | Ron Daniel’s Bible Studies. https://rondaniel.com/library/66-Revelation/Revelation1401.php