Romans 3:28

Context

This passage is part of Romans, the letter Paul sent to the church in Rome. From 1:18 through 3:20, Paul argues that Jews and Gentiles alike are under sin. In 3:21–26 he then speaks of the righteousness of God given apart from the law through faith in Jesus Christ, and in verse 27 he states that this leaves no ground for human boasting. Verse 28 sums up the argument: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Verses 29–30, which immediately follow, declare that God is the God not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles. Verse 31 adds that faith does not make void the law but rather establishes it. "Being justified" refers to God's declaring a person righteous, that is, justification.

Interpretation

• Lutheran and Reformed reading: No work can serve as the ground of justification; a person is justified by faith alone. In his 1522 German New Testament, Martin Luther rendered this verse "by faith alone." When criticized for inserting "alone," a word absent from the original, he defended his translation in his 1530 Open Letter on Translating. John Calvin is reported to have said, in substance, that "it is faith alone that justifies, but the faith that justifies is not alone."
• Wesleyan reading: Methodist, Holiness, and related traditions accept justification by faith while also emphasizing the sanctification (growth in holiness) that follows it. John Wesley is said to have experienced his conversion in 1738 while listening to a reading of Luther's preface to Romans.
• Roman Catholic reading: "The works of the law" are understood as the works of the Mosaic law. Faith is understood as the "faith which worketh by love" described in Galatians 5:6. The Council of Trent rejected "faith alone" in the sense that nothing else is required.
• New Perspective on Paul: E. P. Sanders, James Dunn, N. T. Wright, and others read "the works of the law" as the markers—such as circumcision, food laws, and the Sabbath—that distinguished Jews from Gentiles. Following the flow of verses 29–30, they see the verse as a claim that Jews and Gentiles become the people of God on the same terms. Those who hold the traditional reading argue that this interpretation downplays the question of how an individual is made righteous before God.

Debates and Issues

• This verse appears to conflict with James 2:24: "by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." In 1522 Luther called James an "epistle of straw." Many Protestant interpreters harmonize the two passages by holding that Paul speaks of the ground on which a person is justified before God, while James speaks of true faith being displayed in works.
• In 1999 the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, stating that they had reached agreement on basic truths of the doctrine of justification.
• Manuscripts reportedly differ in the connective linking this verse to the preceding one, some reading "therefore" and others "for." The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok) renders it "therefore."

In the Korean Church

The verse serves as a key text for explaining the doctrine of isin chingui (以信稱義, justification by faith) and is frequently cited in sermons on Reformation Sunday. Unlike Luther, the Korean Revised Version does not insert "alone," rendering the phrase simply "by faith." At the same time, some have criticized the use of this verse to justify a faith that produces no change of life. This criticism, bound up with the problem of so-called "cheap grace," has prompted renewed discussion of the relationship between justification and sanctification.

Related Passages

• Romans 3:21–26
• Romans 3:31
• Romans 4:1–5
• Galatians 2:16
• James 2:21–24