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Commentaries
English
Romans
  
29Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also,30since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.31Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.


Paul wrote this explicit epistle to the church in Rome. When he had described justification powerfully and briefly, he heard objections in his spirit:
The Greeks said: “If the death of Christ demonstrated his righteousness in forgiving the neglected sins committed by the people of the law, then the cross belongs to them alone, and we are excluded.”
And Paul answered them: “But God has forgiven all men their sins. There is not one god for the Jews, and another god for the others, for God is one, and he, by the death of Jesus on the cross, has justified both the circumcised and the uncircumcised through their faith.”
Then some Jews cried out: “That’s impossible! For then, the other nations become justified without circumcision or law, which is blasphemy against God. Paul, you are turning the revelation of God upside down.”
Paul answered the fanatics: “Far be it from me to change the revelation of the Law. We, on the contrary, confirm the law by our good news of the cross, and we clarify that the law is the introduction to the sacrifice of God. The cross extinguishes all the requirements of the law on us.
We understand, from Paul’s struggle with the extremists and moderates of both parties, that not all believers recognize the righteousness of God and its greatness, for they fear the good news that all men are justified by faith. Few are those who come to Christian freedom, which is not founded on the law, racism, or any human engagement, but is founded only on our faith. Our faith signifies our commitment to Jesus, and our trust in him who has loved us from eternity.

Prayer
O Father, we thank you because you delivered us from our self-righteousness, and justified us with the power of Christ. We are sinful when we look at ourselves, but when we look at your crucified Son, we find our righteousness which is given to us. Free us from our false worship that we may not seek human works for justifying ourselves, but become satisfied with the work of your Son for us. Thank you for complete justification, in acknowledgment of which we commit ourselves to you forever.
Question
Why are we justified by faith alone, and not by our good works?