Audio commentary on this verse

Note 14 at Rom. 3:31: Paul had just systematically taken away the Jews' trust in the law for the purpose of justification. This led to the question, "Is the law then useless?" Paul emphatically answers, "God forbid."

The real purpose of the law was established (see ref. gg at this verse) by the gospel (see note 5 at Acts 20:24, p. 698). The problem with the Jews was that they were using the law for something that God never intended. The law was useless to produce justification. God didn't give the law so that we could keep it and thereby earn justification. The law was given to reveal to us that we could never live up to such a holy standard and thereby drive us to God to call out for mercy (Gal. 3:22-24).

The true purpose of the law is still functional today (see note 4 at Rom. 3:19, p. 757). As 1 Timothy 1:8-10 says, "But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man. . . ." The law is God's way of revealing to man his need. It is powerless to make provision for that need. It's the gospel that provides the power to produce salvation (see note 1 at Rom. 1:16, p. 744).

In chapter four, Paul goes on to use two great men of the Old Testament (Abram and David) as examples of how justification came through faith, not through the law.