Not Under, Yet Establishing

The Sapphire Review Vol. 2 | No. 35 • July 18, 2025

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Romans 3:31, KJV

CONTEXT

Not under the law yet establishing the law… how are these things reconciled?

Paul tells us that we are no longer under the law, but rather grace.¹ Yet, this verse is often used while stripped away from the context in which it is written.

On either side of the statement “ye are not under the law” is the topic of sin. On one side the reader is encouraged not to yield their members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin² and that sin shall not have dominion over them.³ On the other side, Paul plainly states that we should not sin.⁴

GO AND SIN NO MORE

The latter statement hearkens back to something Jesus spoke to both a sick man and a woman that had been caught in adultery when he told them both to go and “sin no more.”⁵ In the case of the sick man, Jesus had just spoken to him, telling him to take up his bed and walk.⁶ The man applied his faith in this word which allowed the power of God to heal his body. He rose, took up his bed, and walked away from the place where he had laid for the past 38 years.⁷

Now, was the word that Jesus spoke about sinning no more any less real than the word commanding the man to be healed? Certainly not.

How was the man healed? By his own efforts, or by his faith in the word of Christ which resulted in the power of God working within his body? The latter of course!

How should the man go and sin no more? By his own efforts? No, the same faith in the same word would bring about the same power in his life that would allow him to overcome sin.

This same principle is what Paul calls us to. We should not sin. Why? Because the word of God says as much.⁸ By faith in this word, grace is then given to us in our time of need,⁹ that the power of God may then work in and through us to overcome. Even the person who is bound and defeated by some sin for 38 years can overcome through Christ. According to each person’s faith, so shall it be done unto them (or not).¹⁰

NOT UNDER, YET ESTABLISHING

Now this brings us back to our opening statement:

Paul says that our faith does not make the law void, but by it we then establish the law.¹¹ When we understand sin to be the transgression of the law, as defined in the Bible,¹² we can see how our faith and the grace of God work together in us to make this establishing of the law (overcoming sin) a reality.

For it is by grace, through faith, that we are saved from the dominion and power of sin now and from the penalty of the eternal second death in the age to come. This salvation, of course, is not of our own works - lest any man should boast.¹³

It is true that aspects of the law of Moses were put away and “nailed to the cross,” as they were only types and shadows which pointed the Israelites forward to the coming Messiah.¹⁴

The things which pointed forward to Christ and met their fulfilment in Him, are replaced with something greater and more perfect. We no longer offer up animals as sacrifices for sin, because Christ gave himself once as the sacrifice for the sins of all humanity.

However, the ten commandments are not simply types and shadows which pointed forward to the Messiah, but rather they are the moral foundation upon which all other laws are built. They are immutable, and even found within the ark in heaven - the very ark which served as the pattern that Moses constructed the earthly after.

Regarding the ten commandments, the fourth commandment pertaining to Sabbath observance, is the only one that Christians take issue with. Satan has been at work for century after century to turn people away from the sacredness of the Sabbath commandment.

These things are only a burden to those who don’t want to do them, or who want to excuse there being an expectation to uphold them as a result of inconveniences, difficulties, or their personal lifestyle choices. Yet, to those who keep these out of their love for God, they are no burden at all, but rather a delight.¹⁵

They find that in keeping them, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, a blessing results in their lives that otherwise would not be there:

“Praise ye the LORD [JEHOVAH]. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD [JEHOVAH], That delighteth greatly in his commandments.” (Psalm 112:1, KJV)

CONCLUSION

Thus, we are not under the law, which pointed to Christ and of itself offered no help over the power and penalty of sin. At the same time, we are now under grace which provides us with help in times of temptation to sin, and through our faith and willful obedience, allows us to establish the law (overcome sin).

Those who don’t want to keep the Sabbath or anything else that God has set before us as good and right principles for governing our lives, will search out and find scriptures they can force to support their positions. Yet, this only pacifies their minds, not the claims of the law which are established by all those who know God¹⁶ and love God.¹⁷

These things are not a burden, but a blessing. Will you have faith in the word of God, that His grace might work in you to establish that which is good in your life?¹⁸

God Bless,

Charles

SCRIPTURE INDEX / REFERENCES

1. Rom 6:14

2. Rom 6:13

3. Rom 6:14

4. Rom 6:15

5. Jn 5:14, 8:11

6. Jn 5:8-9

7. Jn 5: 5-15

8. 1 Jn 2:1

9. Heb 4:16

10. Mt 9:29

11. Rom 3:31

12. 1 Jn 3:4

13. Eph 2:8-9

14. Col 2:14-17

15. Jn 14:15, 1 Jn 5:3

16. 1 Jn 2:3-4

17. Jn 14:15, 1 Jn 5:3

18. Rom 7:12, 1 Tim 1:8