Boasting Excluded

Romans 3:27 Boasting Excluded

Boasting is related to pride -it is an expression of it and pride is the greatest of all sins. (Boice) Pride has been the chief casue of misery in every nation and family since the world began (CS Lewis) PRIDE is most obnoxious to God. As a sin, His holiness hates it; as a treason, His Sovereignty detests it; as a rebellion, the whole of His attributes stand leagued to put it down. God has touched other sins with His finger, but against this vice He has made bare His arm! The first transgression had in its essence, pride. The ambitious heart of Eve desired to be as God, knowing good and evil, and Adam imagined that he would be lifted up to Divine rank if he dared to pluck and eat. (Gen 3: 5). The destruction of Paradise, the sterility of the world, the travail of human birth, the sweat of the brow, and the certainty of death may all be traced to this fruitful mother of mischief, pride (Gen 3) . Pride, you have indeed suffered severe strokes from God! Against you has He furbished His sword, and prepared His weapons of war. Remember Pharaoh and the plagues which God brought on Egypt, and the wonders which He worked (Ex 5:2; 7:14-12:32). Think of Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty architect of Babylon, driven out to eat grass like the oxen till his nails grew like birds’ claws, and his hair like eagles’ feathers (Dan 4:29-33). Remember Herod, eaten of worms, because he gave not God the Glory (Acts 12:20-23). When Pride was in the hearts of God’s chosen people, still the arrows of God have sought it out, and have drunk its blood! God still loves His servants, but pride even in them, He abhors. David may be a man after God’s own heart, but his pride lifted him up to number the people (2 Samuel 24:10), Don’t forget that God has uttered the most solemn words as well as issued the most awful judgments against pride! (Prov 8:13, 16:18, Is 2:11). Now mark, to put an everlasting stigma upon human pride, and to hurl once and for all mire and filth upon all human glorying, God has ordained that the only way in which He will save men shall be a way which utterly excludes the possibility of man’s having a single word to say by way of boasting! (Spurgeon)

Paul presents two plans the law of works and the law of faith. There were two plans, two systems, two methods, two spirits—the plan of works and the plan of Divine Grace (Spurgeon) This expresses two kinds of human responses to God, one by works, one by faith ( Moo). The one is by works and would be earned and the other is by faith and is a gift which is unearned. One produces boasting because of self-achievement, glorying in self, while the other boasts in the savior’s atonement glorifying God. God has once and for all utterly refused the plan of merit and of works, and has chosen to bless men only and entirely through the plan, or method, or law of faith (Spurgeon)

Rejected Plan

The works of the Law," which do not exclude boasting, are deeds required in the Law - such as circumcision (v 30) - which a person does to obtain justification: a "work of Law" -which in its essence does not exclude boasting - is anything you do (besides

faith) to obtain a right standing with God - that is, to obtain justification. If you try to do anything besides trust God's grace in order to get right with God, you are doing a "work of Law" - and you are still in the grip of pride. Boasting is not excluded by "works of Law," but only by faith. (Piper) Now, the plan of salvation by works is impossible for us.(Rom 3:20) Even if God had ordained it to be the way by which men should labor to be saved, it is certain that none would have been saved by it, and therefore, all would have perished. For if you would be saved by works, the Law requires of you perfection (Matt 5:17-20). One single flaw, one offense, and the Law condemns you without mercy (James 2:10)! It requires that you should keep it in every point and in every sense, and to its uttermost degree, for its demands are rigorous in the extreme. It knows nothing of freely forgiving because you cannot pay, but like a severe creditor, it takes you by your throat, and says, “Pay me all.” And if you cannot pay even to the uttermost farthing, it shuts you up in the prison of condemnation, out of which you cannot escape (Spurgeon) You have to keep the externally and internally. You must love the Lord in your heart (Matt 22:37) as well as you life. It is one evil thought that condemns you (Mark 7:21, Matt 12:34-37. 15:18-19). Fail here—and though your life were virtuous, though your exterior were such as even criticism itself must commend, yet you still perish because you have not kept the Law, and yielded its full demands! Remember, too, that it is clear you can never be saved by the Law, because if up to this moment your heart and life have been altogether without offense, yet it is required that it should be so even to your dying day! And do you hope that as temptations come upon you thick as your moments, as your trials invade, you will be able to stand against all these? Will there not be some moment in which you may be tripped up—some instant when either the eyes may wander after lust, or the heart set on vanity? Can you say you would never stretch out your hand to touch that which is not good? in no shape, in no sense, in no single case, and in no degree whatever, are we saved by our works or by the Law! (Spurgeon). But what happens if you try to perform a "work of Law" as a way to get right with God? Three things: 1) you nullify grace ("to the one who works, his wage is not credited according to grace"); 2) you turn justification into a wage that you are due, rather than a free gift; 3) you re-establish boasting which the entire plan of salvation was meant to destroy. So, God has completely reject the law of works as the means of our salvation and excludes the prideful boasting that would result. , if you receive anything (attend church, and keep the second table of the Ten Commandments) as a way of obtaining right standing with God, then what you would get would not be grace, but what you are due. (Rom 4:4-5) In other words, "working" calls attention to the worker and the work and expects what is due. Therefore, working does not exclude boasting, it supports boasting. (Piper).

Received plan God has accepted the second plan, the law of faith. The law of faith is the law of the gospel of Christ (Coffman) The rule, or arrangement which proclaims that we have no merit; that we are lost sinners; and that we are to be justified only by faith. (Barnes) The doctrine of a sinner's justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ; according to which doctrine the most unlikely persons are justified, even ungodly persons, the worst and vilest of sinners; and that without any consideration of works, by faith only, which is freely given them; and by faith in Christ's righteousness only: so that there is not the least room for boasting in the creature, but all their boasting is in Christ (1 Cor 1:26-31, 2 Cor 10:17), who is made unto them righteousness, and by whom they are justified. (Gill) the principle of faith, on the principle of being a receiver of all that God gives by accepting it freely as a free gift by faith. No man can boast at having been given a free gift. That does not mean that God looks on our faith and sees it as replacing our works. Rather it indicates that faith is the means by which we accept His free gift. There is no merit in such faith whatsoever. (Pett) The law of faith here, as opposed to the law of works, is that gracious covenant which God made with mankind immediately after the fall. It is fitly termed a law, because it is the law, or rule, by which sinners are to be justified in every age (Rom 4:4-5, 9:30-33); and the law of faith, because the application of faith, as the means of our justification (Benson) There are three aspects of this law of faith which excludes boasting God’s selection, God’s salvation and God’s security. Boasting is excluded and God is glorified by:

His selection of us. God chooses us for salvation (John 15:16, 1 Thess 1:4-5) . His decision to save us was before the foundation of the world, so before we were created (Eph 1:4, 2 Thess 2:13) It was before we had done anything good or bad (Rom 9:11-12, 15-16). It was according to his eternal purpose (Eph 1:5) and according to his divine will (Eph 1:11). God chooses us. He makes known to us and gives us insight into the mystery of the redemptive work of Christ on our behalf (Eph 1:7-9) and we freely believe and respond in faith. (Eph 1:13). Boasting is excluded and God is Glorified because his selection of us is not based on foreseen merit (or works) in us, but because of his divine good pleasure in which he cast his great love upon us. (Duet 7:6-7). The truth of his selection should bring comfort to us. (Rom 8:28-30) God has always acted for the good of those he called to himself. If Paul looks in the distant past before the creation of the world, he see that God foreknew and predestined his people to be conformed to the image of Christ. If he looks at the recent past he finds that God called and justified his people . . . And if he then looks toward the future when Christ returns, he sees that God has determined to give perfect glorified bodied to those who believed in Christ. From eternity to eternity God has acted with the good of his people in mind, and he will in yur present circumstance work for our good. His selection should also produce praise and thanksgiving. It is to the praise of His glorious grace (Eph1: 6) and to the praise of his glory (Eph 1:12). We should praise God knowing that he is ultimately responsible for our salvation and has in fact chosen us to be saved (1 The 1:2,4) (Grudem).

His salvation of us God, not our own efforts save us. Christ’s saving death has removed from mankind any possibility of boasting. He has done all that is need and . . . human effort is futile, there is no place for man’s effort . . . . For those saved by grace (Eph 2:8-9) there is no place for boasting or human achievement, for salvation is all of God. (Morris) Humans can contribute nothing to their own salvation it is a gift from God (Eph 2:8, Rom 6:23) Salvation is receiving God’s gift of redemption and justification through Christ. It is therefore impossible for a person to have faith and then boast about observing the law as an instrument of salvation. It would be like someone receiving a birthday present and insisting to pay for it. Once the item is paid for by the receiver, it ceases to be a gift. Only when it is totally paid for by another and received by someone is it a gift. (Boa).

His security toward us God keeps those who come to him.(Jude 24). We are secure in our eternal relationship to God through our faith in sinless life and redemptive work of Christ on our behalf. (Eph 1:7). Jesus would have to fail for us to lose our salvation. We have been born again and we can’t be “unborn” again (John 3 1-5). God has adopted us (Eph 1:5, Rom 8:15) God has given us an inheritance (Eph 1:11,13, Rom 8:17). God has given us eternal life, we will never perish, and no one can snatch us out of his hands (John 10:27-28, 6:37, 39-40) God will not allow us to be separated from himself (Rom 8:33-39). Our standing does not depend upon ourselves, this perseverance is not dependent upon our works, but like all the rest of salvation, is a flowing outward from the bottomless love of God, boasting is manifestly excluded! (Spurgeon).

Response toward God When I know that every sin of mine is forgiven, that I cannot be lost, that Christ has sworn to bring me to the place where He is; then I say, Lord what is there that I can do for You? Tell me. Can I burn for You? Blessed were the stake if I might kiss it. If You have done so much for me, what can I do for You? Is there an ordinance that involves self-denial? Is there a duty which will compel me to self-sacrifice? So much the better— “Now for the love I bear His name, What was my gain I count my lost! By former pride I call my shame, And nail my glory to His Cross!” This is the way to do good works; and good works are impossible until we come here. Anything that you do by which to save yourself is a selfish act, and therefore cannot be good. Only that which is done for God’s Glory is good in a Scriptural sense. A man must be saved before he can do a good work . But when saved, having nothing to get, and nothing to lose; standing now in Christ, blessed and accepted—he begins to serve God out of pure gratitude and love! (Spurgeon)

Two men have fallen overboard. One man has a dirty face, and the other a clean one. There is a rope thrown over from the stern of the vessel, and only that rope will save the sinking men—whether their faces are fair or foul! Is not this the truth? Do I therefore underrate cleanliness? Certainly not; but it will not save a drowning man; nor will morality save a dying man. The clean man may sink with all his cleanliness, and the dirty man may be drawn up with all his filth, if the rope does but get its hold of him!